LOOP — Want to get away, but can't?
Head to State and Adams streets for a taste of Florida.
The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau — whose domain name is sunny.org — introduced its "Hello Sunny" campaign at the Downtown bus stop Tuesday morning.
Complete with a live feed from Florida, heated lamps, models and a beach ball, the bus shelters rolled out here and in Boston in an attempt to lure more snowbirds south this winter.
"Once the groundhog [saw] his shadow, we knew Chicago needed to know we’re bringing warmth to Chicago," Bureau President and CEO Nicki Grossman said.
The bureau is running the promotion in tandem with Southwest Airlines, which recently introduced a nonstop flight to Fort Lauderdale out of Chicago Midway International Airport.
Grossman said the live video screen costs $60,000 to $75,000 per day it is used, and Chicago is a "very loyal" tourism market for Fort Lauderdale, ranking "eighth or ninth" among visitor origins.
The video screen will go live again Feb. 20 and 26 at State and Adams, but the canopy will be up through the end of the month. Canopies will also be erected this month on bus stops at Clark and Madison streets, Michigan Avenue and South Water Street, Clark and Ontario streets, and Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive.
St. Petersburg and Clearwater, Fla., have also gotten in on the act, building a snowman at Canal and Adams streets directing visitors to a promotional website: winterblows.com.
Chicagoan Matt Nolan, 31, took in the "Hello Sunny" shelter Tuesday while waiting for a State Street bus to take him to work.
"It's a lot better than I thought it was going to be," Nolan said. "There's not a snowflake in sight."
Last year, Hawaii's tourism board tried a similar tactic, which Chicagoans passing by described as the work of "some sadist" taunting them.
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