Wowed by the lights playing across the facades of buildings on Michigan Avenue? Or the color-dappled trees along the boulevard? Or the cool blue that has washed the Wrigley Building in color for the first time in its history?
Since Jan. 19, the stretch of Michigan from the Chicago River to Oak Street has become one mammoth exclamation point on an evolving plan to show the city and her buildings, sculptures and bridges in their best light.
Dubbed “Light Nights on the Magnificent Mile,” the 14-block public art installation of lights runs through March 4 and is brought to you by the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association. Those lights – as well as the 1 million holiday tree lights that will remain on through the event – are the group’s attempt “to turn winter ‘blahs’ into winter ‘ahhs!’ ” says event co-chair Carrie Lannon. Each building came up with its own lighting concept.
It’s the latest effort to get Chicago to lighten up. Mayor Richard Daley’s love affair with lights can be traced to a 1996 trip to Paris, where he noted how the City of Light illuminates its buildings. A couple of years later, Daley launched a Downtown Lighting Master Plan that urged high-rise owners to bathe their buildings in light and sought to brighten bridges with colored lights.
We say: You glow, Rich.
