Animals have inspired artists for eons, from prehistoric cave paintings to entries in this year’s 32nd annual City of Honolulu Holiday Wreath Contest with a “Merry Menagerie!” theme.

“We received 86 entries, a really nice turnout,” said E. Tory Laitila, registrar of the Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts, on Tuesday in Honolulu Hale’s Lane Gallery, its walls freshly hung with all the wreaths that arrived by Monday’s deadline. Several wreaths, he added, also evoked the zoo theme of this year’s Honolulu City Lights.

Theme wreaths bore elephants, rhinos and tigers made in felt by Gina Loveland; local birds and a nene noshing on fruit, musubi, kakimochi and manapua by Json N; and charming ceramic sea creatures by Linda Hayashi.

“When I saw the theme ‘menagerie,’ I figured I could use an ocean scene,” said Hayashi, 61, of Pearl City, a first-time entrant who made the ceramic shark, monk seals, tropical reef fish — and an octopus star — by rolling out a slab of clay, cutting out the shapes, glazing and firing them in a kiln.

Another oceanic wreath, by the Foster Botanical Garden Tuesday Volunteers, suspended woven lauhala coral, honu and fish, hala pods, sea urchin shells and a glass float against rings made of overlapping botanical cones.

There were also collections of schoolchildren’s photos, including a silvery stunner using CDs as frames from Mr. Sam at Waialae Baptist Preschool; souvenirs from favorite Honolulu eateries and sites by the Leahi Hospital Recreational Therapy Department; and nostalgic Hawaiiana with postcards and drawings by the third-grade extended day class of Le Jardin Academy.

Other trends this year, Laitila said, were oversized wreaths, including an all-natural collection of yard rubbish by Kathy Tosh and a fair number of others that used recycled materials, including glass inoculation vials filled with colored water from Animal Clinic of Honolulu.

A shining entry in the open adult category by Calvin Bagaoisan, 29, is an all-white, heart-shaped wreath, its feathered wings sculpted from plastic spoons. “I used to volunteer with the Next Step Shelter in Kakaako, and my inspiration was feeding those in need,” said the first-time entrant from Salt Lake.

Contest judges picked winners and runners-up in five categories considering workmanship, creativity and use of materials, as well as incorporation of the theme into the wreath for submissions in that category.

All the entries will be on exhibit in the Lane Gallery of Honolulu Hale through Jan. 1.

32ND ANNUAL CITY OF HONOLULU HOLIDAY WREATH CONTEST WINNERS

Best in Show: Mayor’s Holly Award

>> Milton Ching, “A FANSiful Menagerie of Merry Memories”

Theme Category

>> 1st Place: Json N, “Yummy Snacks”

>> 2nd Place: Leahi Hospital Recreational Therapy Department, “808 Favorites Past & Present”

>> 3rd Place: Foster Botanical Garden Tuesday Volunteers, “Ocean Menagerie”

Adult (ages 18 and older)

>> 1st Place: ACES ABA Hawai‘i, “Wish Upon a Star … fish”

>> 2nd Place: Kathy Tosh, “Dear Santa, More plants & trees please”

>> 3rd Place: Marian Bernal, “Bead Mine at Christmas”

Youth (ages 17 or younger)

>> 1st Place: Seagull Schools Ko Olina Classroom 1, “Cirque du Mouette”

>> 2nd Place: Seagull Schools Ko Olina Classroom 2, “Classroom 2’s Merry Menagerie”

>> 3rd Place: 4th grade, St. John Vianney Parish School, “The Animal Kingdom”