Hua Hin’s Anantara opens their
Elephant Parade Gift Shop
E
lephant Parade is the world’s
largest art exhibition of decorated
elephant statues. Created by
artists and celebrities, each
elephant parade statue is a unique art
piece. The life-sized baby elephant
statues are exhibited in International
Cities. After each exhibition, a number
of Elephant Parade Statues are auctioned
by a renowned auction house.
Elephant Parade was founded by
father and son Marc and Mike Spits in
2006. Whilst on holiday in Thailand,
Marc met a baby elephant named Mosha
who had lost her leg after stepping on
a land mine. Mosha inspired Mike and
Marc to create Elephant Parade.
In 2007, the first exhibition was held
in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Since
then there have been exhibitions in cities
such as London, Milan, Copenhagen,
Singapore and Hong Kong. The “Friends
of the Asian Elephant” Hospital –
Mosha’s home base in Lampang was
one of the first organizations to receive
contributions generated by Elephant
Parade and structurally continues to
receive funds for taking care of Mosha
who became the first baby elephant in
the world to receive a prosthetic leg.
More than 800 artists have participated
and over 1,000 elephants have been
14
May 15 - June 15 , 2015
created; each an original piece of art.
Bill Heinecke, the Chairman and CEO
of Minor International, which owns the
Anantara Resort chain, has big plans
for Elephant Parade in Bangkok which
will be released in the coming months.
According to Bill, “As a company, we are
always looking for like-minded partners
who share our true passion in saving
the Asian Elephant and Elephant Parade
has long been known for its Elephant
conservation efforts in Thailand…”
The Elephant Parade Gift Shop located
within the Hua Hin Anantara Resort sells
smaller versions of the elephants which
are all hand painted in Chiang Mai. Each
series is produced in limited quantities
and each one is