Rocket J. Squirrel failed to show, but big-antlered Bullwinkles were everywhere.
Hoping to replicate the tourism boom generated by Chicago’s “Cows on Parade” exhibit last summer, the city of Toronto on Monday unleashed more than 100 whimsical, 10-foot-tall moose on the city’s streets, beginning in the trendy Yorkville district.
The “Moose in the City” project is perhaps the grandest imitation of Chicago’s cow display, in which 300 fiberglass cow sculptures uniquely fashioned by local artists grazed along the Magnificent Mile and other parts of the city.
Chicago’s cow campaign is credited with bringing an additional 2 million visitors to the city and generating more that $200 million in economic activity. Sensing that tourism dollars could come their way, too, more than 30 North American cities have copied the public art effort this summer.
Cincinnati is host to the “Big Pig Gig,” in which 300 fiberglass pigs are being herded downtown to honor the city’s 1800s hog market days. In New Orleans, it’s fish. Lexington, Ky., has thoroughbred horses. Buffalo, of course, has buffaloes. And New York City is sticking with the tried and true: cows.
The moose event came to Toronto much the same way Chicago discovered cow magic.
Chicago native George A. Cohon, senior chairman of McDonald’s in Toronto, was so taken by Chicago’s cows during a visit last summer that, upon returning to Toronto, he quickly convinced Mayor Mel Lastman that the city should launch a similar project. Chicago borrowed the idea from Zurich at the suggestion of a local businessman impressed by the Swiss city’s display.
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Toronto officials are hoping to revive the city’s flagging leisure-tourism industry, which has leveled out after peaking at about 16.6 million tourists in 1996.
Lastman jumped at the idea but decided cows did not say the Great North Woods to potential tourists.
“Toronto’s too nice for cows,” Lastman told Cohon. “Moose are majestic, regal, strong, and they’re Canadian.”
Among the artists’ creations: a chocolate moose, a trophy moose, a bride and groom moose standing outside the marital registry office and a moose painted like a cow, with a bell around its neck, to honor Chicago’s cows.
As in Chicago, where cows raised $3.4 million for charity at auction, a Moose Ball and auction will be held. Cohon said one moose already has fetched $23,000, with the money going to the Olympic team and local charities. Overall, more than 300 moose will be on display through October.