Giant Mice on State Street

By Rachelle Bowden in Arts & Entertainment on May 24, 2004 11:44AM

Through July, 15 giant, 700 lb. statues of Mickey Mouse will be on display on State Street "Cows on Parade"-stye. The 6-foot-tall mice were created to celebrate Mickey's 75th birthday. The statues debuted in Orlando in November, which was the 75th anniversary of the release of the Mickey Mouse short, Steamboat Willie. They will head to Washington D.C. and then go to New York City before being auctioned for charity. Mickey Mouse's creator, Walt Disney, was born in Chicago in 1901 and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts here.

Each mouse in the display has been designed by celebrities such as Tom Hanks, Tony Hawk, Jennifer Garner, Andy Garcia, James Galdolfini, Ben Affleck. While each statue shows a bit of the creator's personality, we would have been more impressed to see Affleck's statue with a J Lo booty or Gandolfini's with a mobster handgun.

The Sun Times published a map of the location of each statue and a gallery of all of the statues.

Thanks to Gapers' Block and Joe S. for giving us the head's up on event!