Hunting Lighthouses On The Mag Mile, Chicago IL

While staying in Chicago for our anniversary, Shae and I went for a wander around the city and headed up to The Magnificent Mile.

Shortly after crossing over DuSable Bridge, we spotted a decorated lighthouse. When we spot a colorful piece of public art like this, we know it can only mean one thing – time for a sculpture hunt!

In the past, we’ve hunted for trolls, mermaids, light bulbs, mice and the solar system. Well, now it was time to go hunting for the Lighthouses On The Mag Mile.

Seeing as we were planning on walking the entire length of The Magnificent Mile, we decided to try to find all the lighthouses on one side of the road, then walk back on the other side of the street to find all the others.

Lighthouses On The Mag Mile is a public art display that ran from June 19 to August 11, 2018. We therefore got lucky seeing as we went searching for them on August 8, just a few days before the display was due to end.

The purpose of Lighthouses On The Mag Mile was to celebrate access and inclusion for people with disabilities. That theme is clearly evident in several of the lighthouse designs, including Touch And See which has several sections of braille running around it.

In total, 51 Lighthouses On The Mag Mile were created. We only found 34 of them because we didn’t hunt for them further afield than The Magnificent Mile. We hadn’t realized at the time, but there were additional lighthouses in nearby neighborhoods.

Even though we only found 2/3 of the Lighthouses On The Mag Mile, it was still fun to see so many of these six feet tall sculptures. They all had great designs, it brightened up the street and brought joy to loads of kids (and us!) who were trying to find them all.

Chicago was home to the first Special Olympics which began on July 20, 1968. That meant Lighthouses On The Mag Mile was on display during the 50th anniversary of the Special Olympics which was also being celebrated in Chicago. This was commemorated by the yellow lighthouse below celebrating the 50th anniversary.

The Lighthouses On The Mag Mile display officially ended on August 11, 2018. If this is something you’d love to have seen in person but missed out, you might be in luck as all the lighthouses are being sold off.

When Norfolk VA did this with their mermaids, many local businesses purchased the mermaids and displayed them outside their offices and stores. Hopefully businesses on The Magnificent Mile will do something similar.