Cows on Parade (TM) was an extremely successful public art exhibition held in Chicago in the summer of 1999.

I remember going to work early in the morning (I was at Northwestern Medical School then) – as soon as I got off the bus at the corner of Chicago and N. Michigan Ave., I saw a ruckus going on in the median dividing Michigan Ave. There was a red cow in the middle of the street!!!

People thought it was a prank … someone said to call the police, and somebody did, but the police didn’t do anything.

The next day, another cow appeared, a golden one this time, up near the lower tower of the Water Tower.

Several more days later, more cows appeared … it was a fun thing to hear reports where a cow suddenly sprouted up.

I remember, early on, the reception was generally supportive. But some cows, especially the first one, the red one was vandalized many times, its horns were broken and I think they finally had to replace that cow with another one.

Taken with a Fujifilm DX7 and uploaded straight from the camera.