It started with herds of wildly decorated fiberglass cattle in Zurich and Cows on Parade in Chicago.

Wednesday, July 05, 2000

It started with herds of wildly decorated fiberglass cattle in Zurich and Cows on Parade in Chicago. They made people grin, bring their friends, look for more.

Now cows of unexpected hues and patterns graze in Manhattan, 6-foot hares prepare to leap in Saginaw, Mich., 5-foot-high fantastic fish swim in New Orleans, and moose stalk the streets of Toronto and Whitefish, Mont.

Norfolk, Va., has a medley of mermaids. Six-foot ears of corn decorate Bloomington, Ill. In Austin, Minn., 400-pound concrete pigs went on parade in May.

"I hope everybody else is having as much fun as we are," said Teresa Kelly of Whitefish.

Fun is the common theme.

Ken Goodpaster of St. Paul, Minn., recalls when he and two colleagues first saw the cows in Chicago.

"I can remember being almost like a little child, going from one to the other, watching the children and trying not to look like one, and enjoying the fact that each of these pieces was outdoing the other as we walked down the street," said Goodpaster, a business ethics professor at the University of St. Thomas.

"And my colleagues were doing the same," he said.

St. Paul has its own take on the theme: 51 dancing, 5-foot-tall Snoopys, celebrating "the joy of being Snoopy" and honoring the late Charles Schulz, a native son.

Three to four dozen similar projects are supposed to take place this summer in North America, said Nathan Mason, curator of special projects for Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs. And that, he emphasizes, is "by no means definitive."

Chicago is even planning a new exhibit for next year, but officials won’t give out any details.

"It looks like it’s on a growth curve and not likely to slow down," says Jack Becker, editor of Public Arts Review, based in St. Paul. "If Chicago can reinvent itself and come up with something even more inventive, I’d say we’re up for a decade of things on parade."

Saginaw’s 6-foot-tall hares stand tall on their hind feet, about to take off on a nearly vertical leap – provoking variations such as Hare Jordan with a basketball, and Harely Davidson in motorcycle leathers.

"We chose to make this a collaboration of crass commercialism, street art and community fund raising. But we’re having fun with everything that we’re doing," said Paul Barrera of Saginaw.

The colorful critters give businesses a chance to sponsor public art at a low price and get a tax deduction.

Norfolk’s mermaids are $2,000, including a $350 honorarium for the artist. Chicago’s cows started at $3,500, with $1,000 going to the artist. New Orleans’ fish are $3,000, with $1,000 to the artist.

"It comes out to about 27 cents an hour, I figure," said Helen Baffes-Febry, who created three of the nearly 200 fish on New Orleans’ sidewalks, plazas and other public places.

Darryl Fontana wasn’t really excited when his wife suggested checking out the New Orleans fish.

"At first, it sounded like a crazy idea. But when you see them, they’re really nice," he said.