Holy cow! The famous Chicago cows are back in town

Fourteen of the original sculptures from the “Cows on Parade” public art exhibit in 1999 got back together this month for a 20-year reunion exhibit: “Cows Come Home.”

Marilyn Adelman is a self-proclaimed “cow addict.”

When the “Cows on Parade” public art installation first came to Chicago two decades ago, Adelman made it her mission to see and photograph as many as possible. So when she heard some of the life-size, fiberglass cows were getting back together for a reunion, she knew she had to see them.

“I had to come right down,” she said Tuesday. “I charged up my (camera) batteries, so I’m so happy.”

Adelman walked around Jane Byrne Park by the Water Tower on the Magnificent Mile, photographing the 14 cow sculptures, smiling the whole time. She said the original exhibition in 1999 inspired her to travel around the world looking for other art parades, including to Toronto to see its moose and to Buffalo, New York, to see its, well, buffalo. She even bought one of Cincinnati’s flying pig sculptures.

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

Marilyn Adelman poses with the “Holy Cow,” an homage to Harry Caray.

The man responsible for bringing these cows to Chicago, Peter Hanig, said 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 the 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 eventually the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs. Once he got the green light, Hanig said he started looking for sponsorships for the sculptures and put a call out for local artists to paint the cows.

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

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

Hanig said many cities approached Chicago to learn about how to put together a public art exhibit. But he said 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 said.

Peter Hanig poses with his cow, “Spot.”

When it came time to decide how to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the exhibit, Hanig said he asked the cow owners to lend some of their sculptures back for the month of July. There are 14 cows, but Hanig said there could be three more on their way downtown right now.

Kelly and Zach Chapman were in town visiting from Washington, D.C., and stopped to look at the sculptures with their daughter.

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

Hanig said the original “Cows on Parade” made for a “delightful summer” when about 1 million visitors came downtown to check out the cows. He said he hopes this reunion will bring people together in a similar way.