Editing CowParade (section)

==History==
The concept of "cow parade" has its origins in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, in 1998<ref>{{cite web|url=http://switzerland.isyours.com/e/photo-gallery/geneva/parade-cows.html |title=Geneva Cow Parade |access-date=June 4, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060509065640/http://switzerland.isyours.com/e/photo-gallery/geneva/parade-cows.html |archive-date=May 9, 2006 }}</ref> by artistic director Walter Knapp, it is based on an idea which was realised in the same city for the first time in 1986: lions as the symbol of Zurich were painted and then on display throughout the city.

The Zürich exhibit 1998 was not called "cow parade" - it was called '''Land in Sicht''' ("Land ho").<ref>{{Cite news |date=1998-05-31 |title=Kunst an der Kuh |url=https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/kunst-an-der-kuh-a-48573185-0002-0001-0000-000007898451 |access-date=2025-01-08 |work=Der Spiegel |language=de |issn=2195-1349}}</ref> The concept was brought to the United States when [[Chicago]] businessman Peter Hanig, along with Commissioner of Cultural Affairs [[Lois Weisberg]], organized an event in Chicago in 1999 called '''Cows on Parade'''. A Swiss company, CowHolding Parade AG, started to explore the idea.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}} The American company capitalizing on this idea, CowHolding Parade, was founded in 1999; the Swiss company promptly sued but the case fizzled out without results.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}} A bronze casting of one of the cows is on permanent display in Chicago in commemoration of the city's initial exhibition.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}

The success of this venture inspired many other cities to host similar [[fundraising]] projects. The idea has been taken up by other cities which have chosen animals for public art projects with painted fiberglass sculptures (e.g. Liverpool) (see [[#Similar projects|Similar projects]]).{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}