Thoughts of peace carry on

The “Give Peace a Chance” exhibit at the Lake County Discovery Museum has packed up and moved to the next stop.

But thoughts inspired by John Lennon and Yoko Ono's 1969 Bed-In for Peace will be combined with others as part of a continuing tribute.

More than 1,000 inspirational words were penned and affixed like leaves on a wishing tree during the exhibit's three-month run. Staff at the museum in the Lakewood Forest Preserve near Wauconda will ship them to the Imagine Peace Tower near Reykjavik, Iceland.

A memorial to Lennon created by Ono and unveiled in 2007, the tower of light is projected from a monument with the words “Imagine Peace” carved into it in 24 languages.

Fifteen searchlights with prisms act as mirrors and reflect the light upward. Hundreds of thousand of wishes gathered at wish trees wherever the exhibit appears are buried beneath the tower.

“Why? What is it all for? It's not unlike the Bed in for Peace — it's a way to concentrate energy on the idea (of) peace,” said Katherine Hamilton-Smith, director of cultural resources for the Lake County Forest Preserve District, which runs the museum.

She said the attendance was nearly double that for the same period as last year.

“It had a good feeling to it,” she said of the exhibit.

The tower will be lighted from two hours after sunset until midnight the first week of spring; Oct. 9 (Lennon's birthday) to Dec. 8 (anniversary of his death); and, during the first week of winter.