Burton’s Bollards, a launch, a dragon-napping and a whole lot of love
- tilleybancroft
- Aug 18
- 2 min read
Well. That was quite a launch!
Burton’s Bollards officially hit the streets this month, with 20 wonderfully weird, colourful and completely unique bollard covers popping up around Burton town centre.
The project has been months in the making, bringing together some incredibly talented local crafters to transform the humble bollard into everything from fairies and flowers to local characters, creatures and, of course, one rather magnificent giant purple dragon.
The idea was always to create something joyful. Something unexpected. Something that might make you stop on your way through town, smile, take a photo and perhaps wander a little further to see what you could find next.
And Burton seems to have taken them to its heart.
We knew people were excited as the Bollards started appearing. What we perhaps hadn’t anticipated was discovering quite how attached everyone had become to them before we’d even officially launched.
Enter Norbert.
Our enormous purple dragon, perched proudly on his castle, was installed ready for launch day. And then somebody stole him. Before we’d even launched the trail, Norbert had been dragon-napped.
What happened next was quite extraordinary.
News travelled quickly. Very quickly. People were upset, angry and genuinely sad that something made with so much time, skill and love for the town had been taken.
But amongst all of that frustration was something rather wonderful. People cared. They cared about Norbert. They cared about the person who had spent hours making him. They cared about the trail. And they cared because these slightly ridiculous woolly creations had already started to feel like they belonged to Burton.
We tried to keep the response in the spirit in which the whole project had been created. With humour, kindness and a little bit of silliness. No pitchforks required. We just wanted our dragon back.
And then launch day arrived.
People came out, maps in hand, hunting down Bollards, taking photographs, choosing favourites and discovering some of the brilliant stories and creativity woven, stitched and crocheted into them.
It was exactly what we had hoped Burton’s Bollards would be.
Public art doesn’t always need to be enormous, permanent or serious. Sometimes it can be made from yarn. Sometimes it can turn an otherwise completely unremarkable piece of street furniture into something that makes somebody grin. And sometimes, apparently, it can make an entire town rally around a missing purple dragon.
The second year of Burton’s Bollards will certainly be one we remember!
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