Gromit fever

After being spread around Bristol for 10 weeks, the 80 Gromits of the Gromit Unleashed exhibition (plus a secret one) have been one next to each other in the show called The Greatest Dog Show on Earth. They have been displayed in Beacon House from last Wednesday 18th until today, 23rd September. 
The "Gromit Fever" grew fast and many people wanted to visit the exhibition to raise money for Bristol Children's hospital, creating massive queues.

The first day, Wednesday, the queue was up to 3 hours long. Neither organisers nor visitors were expecting such a long queue on a Wednesday. On Thursday, despite the rain, queues started hours earlier than the opening time and organisers started monitoring the queues and estimating queuing time on Facebook. Social networks got busy and visitors started suggesting an extension on the opening hours: "I think before its all over, you really need to rethink opening times and stay open much later for workers and people travelling from far", said someone on Facebook. 

Friday queues were similar to the day before. According to the comments on Facebook, people heard about the long queues and they were prepared for a 3-4h wait: "I'll bring a book, iPod and iPad..." or "Take some books, snacks and a smile, and you'll be fine". General opinion in the queue was positive: "queues went quickly with people chatting", "sharing experiences, it didn't feel anything like that long", "everyone was in good spirit"... 
Good weather absolutely helped as well as the organisers and volunteers, who were bringing food and drinks to the queue. 

On the other hand, there were people saying "queues like that are just ridiculous", "looking to come straight from school on Friday but concerned that we will be queuing and maybe not get in as won't get there until about 4pm", "6pm is nonsense!" and they asked for an extension: "Can you at least extend the opening times as its obviously popular?", "one more week, please!"... Due to the overwhelming popularity of the exhibition and the feedback received, opening hours of the exhibition were extended on Saturday, probably the most critical day. 

Saturday morning started with 4h queue but in the afternoon it became into a 5-6h queue, when it was temporarelly closed at some points of the day due to the massive amount of people joining the queue. On Sunday, the queue reduced to 3-4h and today, Monday, surprisingly there was a maximum of 1h30min queue and a minimum of 40min!!

Nevertheless, the opinion about the exhibition is unanimous: "it is worth to wait the queue".

For this event, the key to avoid the queue was to volunteer for the exhibition: "So glad I am volunteering and won't have to queue! Very excited to see all the Gromits together!".

Have you been there this weekend? Don't be shy and share your own experience with us!

Note: Pictures have been taken by visitors attending the exhibition. Thank you very much!

LINKS
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Related topics: "Where is Gromit?"

Where is Gromit?

Today, 1st July, is the official kick-off day for the Gromit Unleashed public art exhibition. Even though some of the sculptures were already in place during the weekend, all 80 Gromits will be guarding Bristol for ten weeks, until the 8th September.  The giant fibreglass sculptures of Gromit are 5 feet tall, and have been individually designed and created by invited artists, creating a train of unique pieces of art. 

 

If you didn't already come across with any of them yet, go for a walk around Bristol and I bet that you will spot at least one in less than 5 minutes. As a help, you can download the whole trail map here.

There is also available an application for the phone. By downloading the official application, you will automatically be  donating 40p of the 64p cost to benefit Wallace & Gromit's Grand Appeal, the Bristol Children's Hospital Charity. The hospital is now expanding to create one of the most influential children's hospitals in Europe.

Unfortunately, some sculpures have been seriously damaged during the weekend, before the official start of the exhibition, and had to be temporarily removed to have them repaired. In order to prevent vandalism activities, organizers would like you to help them protect the Gromits during the trail by reporting any suspicious behaviour or damage to the police, or by texting the Gromit sculpture on 07582 064103 or emailing us at info@gromitunleashed.org.uk.

 




INTERESTING LINKS
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Gromit Unleashed Website: http://www.gromitunleashed.org.uk/
Gromit Unleashed on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/?sk=nf#!/GromitUnleashed?fref=ts
Grand Appeal Charity: http://www.grandappeal.org.uk/