Residents of the small New Zealand district of Cardrona have voted unanimously to retain the area’s “bra fence” — a farm fence out in the country with hundreds of discarded women’s brassieres tied to it.
The fence has attracted worldwide attention since it was started by four local women at Cardrona on South Island on New Year’s Day 2000 to mark the “liberation” of the new Millennium.
Thousands of tourists now stop to photograph it each year.
A dispute over the future of the fence, with hundreds of bras tied to it, has been brewing for more than a year after a sole critic demanded it be removed.
American Andre Prassinos, who lives part of the year in nearby Wanaka township, started his solo campaign against the fence last year, saying it was a “potential traffic hazard.”
Since he lodged a fresh complaint with the local council last week, Cardrona Valley ratepayers and residents have come out in unanimous support of the “iconic” bra fence, said association chairman John Scurr.
“We don’t want it getting higher, longer or suddenly being filled with boots and knickers as well. But it should stay because it’s become part of the valley,” Scurr told the Southland Times newspaper.