But this didn't keep Hillsborough resident Ella Morris from jumping up and down in excitement.

"Yeah, the magic gates, the magic gates!" she shouted. "They are awesome!"

Perhaps I should menion that Ella is five years old.

We were strolling up Churton Street to the Old Orange County Courthouse to see Jim Gallucci's sculpture, "Oakleaf Horizon." Ella had already visited it a few times and had given it a name appropriate to the joy she got from interacting with it.

This is one of the reasons Gail Cooley loves the medium.

"It is something you can actually touch," said Cooley, coordinator of the first Hillsborough Sculpture Tour. "The paintings we look at and enjoy, but you can have personal contact with sculptures."

The Sculpture Tour, sponsored by the Hillsborough Arts Council ( www.hillsboroughartscouncil.org), opened April 16 and runs through Sept. 30.

Gallucci's piece is one of six that are sited within walking distance of each other in downtown Hillsborough. The other five pieces are "Jack," by Jonathan Bowling at the Eagle Lodge Masonic Hall at 142 West King Street; "Joiners," by Karen Ives at Turnip Patch Park at 333 West King Street; "Out of Nature," by Hanna Jubran at the Hillsborough Police Station at 127 North Churton Street; "Anhinga," by Harry McDaniel at the Burwell School Historic Site at 319 North Churton Street; and "Stranger in a Strange Land," by Charles Pilkey at the Hillsborough/Orange County Visitors Center at 150 East King Street.

Cooley came up with the idea for a town sculpture tour while she was serving on a committee to choose a sculpture to be permanently installed at the Orange County Public Library last year.

She organized a tour committee that included Elizabeth Read, executive director for The Alliance for Historic Hillsborough.

Read had a friend, Jack Thompson, who had some experience with sculpture tours; he was on the planning committee for one in Salisbury. So the group took a field trip there.

"Jack gave us tips on what worked and what didn't," Read said. "He thought that the most positive thing that came out for the community was the build-up of excitement of the new sculptures appearing on the same weekend."

Having the sculptures installed for a length of time, and then having them removed, also sparked community interest about the idea of getting attached to something that then goes away.

"To have a revolving show like this, everyone gets to look at it and it creates a dialogue," said Tinka Jordy, who is on the board of the Hillsborough Arts Council and served as one of the judges for the tour. "It is perfect since it is not up forever. There is no commitment. It brings up the public's awareness to the public value of sculpture in the community. If you don't have it, you don't know you are missing it."

Emily Kass, director of the Ackland Art Museum, was another one of the judges. She loves being able to walk around a work of art.

"Especially when it is not in a gallery setting," Kass said. "How work interacts with the environment - it makes you not only look at the piece differently, but also the space around it differently too."

Kass, Jordy and fellow judge Jane Tyndall visited each site before they chose the sculptures.

"I am so impressed with Hillsborough," Kass said. "I think the community spirit behind this was wonderful and the arts council does a terrific job. I was really pleased to be a part of it."

Cooley has received a lot of positive comments about the tour. Some people wonder what a contemporary sculpture is doing on a historic site. Others think the sculptures bring something new to something old.

Get out and vote. A people's choice ballot is on the tour brochure, available at the Visitors Center at 150 E. King Street.

There is also a fan contest where people can post photos of themselves with the sculptures and post them either on Twitter (#HsboST) or on the Historic Hillsborough Facebook page www.facebook.com/HillsboroughNC).

Asked to sum up how she feels now that the sculptures have moved in, Cooley said, "I am elated."

Just like Ella.