A herd of gnus is invading sedate New London. There's no need to fear though - these gnus are of the artistic, creative, and non-wild kind, and they will be keeping the sidewalks of the small town safe until they are auctioned off in October. Monies raised will benefit the planned Kearsarge Community Center, slated to open in the fall.

The concept is not a new one -- Many towns throughout the country have had cows on display - but this may be the first time that gnus are given the run of a community. "Gnus of New London" just had a certain ring, says Bridget Leroy, who dreamed up the project more than a year ago.

Technically, the animal's name is pronounced Ga-new, but it seems easy enough for the town to - temporarily, anyway - think of itself as Ga-New London. The gnu is also known as a wildebeest, but really, wildebeest is not a name that lends itself to easy rhyme or alliteration. And so The Gnus of New London were born.

"I am very happy to be behind this project - I am not on the board of the Kearsarge Community Center - but I thought of this on Valentine's Day last year and it's really fun," said LeRoy, who owns the New London Inn with her husband Eric Johnson. "By now, though, honestly, I am a just a little over all the plays on words with the word gnu!"

There are 27 gnus in all set to invade the streets of New London this weekend - a preview party last weekend brought in over 150 visitors to see the full herd for the fist time. From now until October, the gnus will greet visitors and possibly protect townspeople from predator attacks at businesses around town who have sponsored the gnus. Come October, a gala auction will take place at the New London Historical Society, at a benefit hosted by Boston comedian Jim Colliton.

"The auction will run something like a real cow auction, only a little more upscale - it'll be barbecue, but barbecue done by a James Beard-trained chef," said LeRoy, who works hard to mix the highbrow with the ridiculous.

LeRoy knows a bit about getting news out the public and publicity - she is a former New York Times reporter and founded the East Hampton Independent News in New York before settling in New London with her family in 2004.

Once she had the gnu idea stuck in her head, LeRoy quickly focused on the planned community center as a beneficiary for her project. Then she set out to draw artists and sponsors into this Gnu World.

"We were lucky because we had all of our sponsors lined up last year before the bottom fell out of the economy," LeRoy said. "The support out there has been tremendous and ongoing."

All artists were given a basic, plain white gnu mold to build on. From there, artists had the freedom to create whatever whimsical form of Gnu Animal they wished. The result is a mix of the beautiful and the absurd, the colorful and the earnest. Almost all feature those never-get-old gnu-puns.

Jan Marvel's work "High Gnoon" offers a western theme, based on the movie of the almost same name, showing four gunfighters riding into town. Jane Prophet's "Isaac Gnuton" offers a plethora of apples. Margaret Dwyer's "New Hampshire Quilted Sampler" - she chose to stick with the traditional spelling of 'New' - offers a gnu covered in different squares of quilting patterns. And Annie Ballin's "Peace Gnu" is a simple and compelling blue-themed gnu, with the lyrics of John Lennon's "Imagine" printed along with several peace doves.

Two well-known artists were invited to participate in the Gnu Show: local children's author and legend Tomie dePaola, and Tony Walton, the celebrated, award-winning Broadway and motion picture designer who happens to be LeRoy's father-in-law. Each work is expected to bring in big money come Gnu Auction time.

LeRoy said that as she started her project, nobody was clear on what a gnu looked like. She said she reminded folks that it was the wildebeest stampede that caused the death of Mustafa in The Lion King. Real wildebeests are slightly less cuddly than the gnus of New London, who do not have the mane of hair along the chin or head. Still, the invasion of wild gnus was a little hard on her own family, who stored the painted gnus at their house as they were finished. (next page »)