A few of the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation’s Horses of Honor fell victim to their popularity during a busy Chicago Marathon weekend, with two vandalized and several damaged after people climbed or leaned on them.
The horses, decorated by local artists and installed along Michigan Avenue and in other parts of downtown, honor officers who died or were injured in the line of duty.
The company handling the approximately 60 statues’ installation has checked all of them for damage, and had to take three in to be repaired. But when they started out, organizers knew that, just as with the Cows on Parade exhibit in 1999, some of the horses might suffer accidental damage when they became popular.
A Near West Side man was arrested Friday night and charged with felony criminal damage after breaking the wings of a horse painted like a dragon that was sponsored by the Drake Hotel. And on Sunday, police say, a horse near the Merchandise Mart was was found to have been defaced — signed by the cast of the NBC television show “Chicago P.D.”, someone had scribbled graffiti on it.
“It’s unfortunate, but we’re really pleased that a citizen called 911, and police were able to make an arrest quickly,” in the Michigan Avenue incident, said former Chicago police Superintendent Phil Cline, director of the foundation, adding that police have stepped up checks on the horses to deter vandalism.
While there have been a couple cases of criminal damage, most of the horses marred over the weekend seem to be the victim of the program’s success, said Bill Bracken, a partner at Agency 360, a consulting group helping organize the project=. Some statues have been on the street for a month, and only after 2 million people descended on the city for the marathon was there damage to the statues.
On Monday, a horse honoring Foster District Officer Myles Smetana, who died in 1999, that had been displayed in front of the Wrigley Building fell and broke, apparently while a family was leaning against it to have their picture taken. Cline said the statue, sponsored by Wendella Boats, had been damaged over the weekend and reinstalled after that, but the earlier damage apparently had weakened it.
The horses are designed to be public art that people get close to — and even are designed to hold a pretty hefty load. On Monday, families stopped to pose for photos next to the horses on the Mag Mile, but climbing on them can damage the statues’ paint, or crack the fiberglass from which they’re made.
“There’s a lot of time, effort and care that goes into these … and they need to be treated that way,” Bracken said.
Even as the statues damaged over the weekend are repaired, the foundation’s planning on installing 40 or more additional statues in the next few weeks, depending on how many more companies or people sign up as sponsors. The final fundraising auction in which the horses will be sold to benefit the foundation is set for December.