Twenty Five Years Ago, Chicago’s Streets Became a Moo-seum with the Cows on Parade Exhibition

Twenty five years ago, the streets of Chicago became a public art moo-seum.* The Cows on Parade public art project featured some 300 elaborately decorated, 580-pound fiberglass cows scattered throughout downtown Chicago. The exhibition debuted on June 15, 1999 with a celebration in Daley Plaza that included a choir of lawyers dressed up like cows – allowing Chicago to do what it does best: Being just a little bit weird.

The idea for the art project originated in 1998, when Zurich, Switzerland hosted a similar display. Chicago businessman Peter Hanig was inspired by the Zurich project and worked with Chicago to create a display that would bring a little joy and public togetherness through the bright and whimsical bovines. The fact that the sculptures were cows was fitting, too, given Chicago’s history with the Union Stockyards and that pesky myth that Mrs. O’Leary’s cow started the Great Chicago Fire. (It didn’t!) After the exhibition ended, 140 of the cow sculptures were auctioned off, bringing in more than $3.4 million for charity. Some of the cows returned to the Magnificent Mile for a month back in 2019.

In the Chicago History Museum photo above, Mayor Richard M. Daley laughs with one of the cows at a kick-off of the exhibition in Daley Plaza.

*We are ethically obligated to include a cow pun in this post.