Holy cow! Some of Chicago’s beloved ‘Cows on Parade’ are back for just a little while

Marilyn Adelman says she’s a “cow addict.”

When the “Cows on Parade” public art installation came to Chicago two decades ago, Adelman made it her mission to see and photograph as many as possible. So when she heard that some of the life-size, fiberglass cows were being brought back for a reunion, she says, “I had to come right down.

“I charged up my [camera] batteries, so I’m so happy.”

Adelman walked around Jane Byrne Park by the Water Tower, photographing the 14 cow sculptures. She couldn’t stop smiling.

She says the 1999 exhibition inspired her to travel around the world in search of other art parades, including Toronto’s moose and the city of Buffalo, New York’s, well, buffalo. She even bought one of Cincinnati’s flying pig sculptures.

“I just absolutely love them,” she says. “I think the art is cute and fun, and some of it is beautiful.”

Syd Stone/Sun-Times

Peter Hanig, who was responsible for bringing Cows on Parade to Chicago, says making Chicagoans smile and bringing them together is “the whole point” of the art installation. Hanig, who owns Hanig’s Footwear on North Michigan Avenue, was inspired by cow sculptures he saw on a 1998 vacation to Switzerland and wanted to bring them to Chicago.

He pitched the idea to the Magnificent Mile Association and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Once he got the OK, Hanig says he started looking for sponsorships for the sculptures and put a call out for artists to paint them.

There were about 330 cow sculptures on display during the four-month exhibit. When it ended in November 1999, the cows were herded up and stored in a warehouse until they were auctioned off. One cow went for $110,000, Hanig says.

Chicago’s cows set off a worldwide movement of public art. Cincinnati had the “Big Pig Gig.” Bloomington had “Corn on the Curb,” and Washington, D.C., had “Pandamania,” among others.

Hanig says other cities approached Chicago to learn how to put together a public art exhibit. But he says the success of the project had a lot to do with luck.

“We were extremely lucky in that the sculpture that we used was accessible, was friendly, was, to some degree, humorous,” he says.

Syd Stone / Sun-Times

Deciding how to celebrate the 20th anniversary, Hanig asked cow owners to lend some of the sculptures back for July. There are 14 cows in “Cows Come Home.” Hanig says three more could be added.

Kelly and Zach Chapman were visiting from Washington this week and stopped to look at the sculptures with their daughter.

“Our 15-month-old seems to like them,” Zach Chapman says. “We just kind of stumbled upon them, and she likes cows, so she’s been taking to it.”

Hanig says “Cows on Parade” made for a “delightful summer,” with an estimated 1 million people coming downtown to check them out and that he hopes the reunion will bring people together, too.