Don't Miss the REAL St. Patrick's Day Celebration In Chicago! Sunday, March 13, 2005

Growing from its humble roots, a few kids in a baby buggy parade on a side street just west of Western Avenue, this neighborhood parade has grown to be a major Chicago Cultural Event drawing hundreds of thousands of people along Western Avenue.

Helped by the zoning on Western Avenue, the East side is dry, no liqour licenses, the parade has managed to maintain a mixture of the fun of a neighborhood family event, with just a taste of the rowdiness of a Neighborhood Mardi Gras Parade in the Neighborhoods of New Orleans. The kind that draws the local folks, not the ones that end up in the French Quarter.

Perhaps a better analogy is the People's Parade in Mobile, Alabama on Mardi Gras Day, where at the end of the Parade, any one who wants to joins in the parade and walks to the final destination.

So it is with the Chicago neighborhood of Beverly's South Side Irish Parade, for before the street cleaning begins and the street is open to traffic and CTA and Pace buses, the street fills with people, families with babies in strollers and those joining in the tail end of the parade.

During the bar hours on Western Avenue, I don't go anymore myself, you can expect the bars to be packed tight, as parade day is coming home day for all of Beverly's former children. If you want to see the kids you went to grammar school or high school with, this is the day to try, and the neighghborhood bars are the places to do it.

Some of the local parishes also have events. Check Google news for listings on the day via the Chicago Tribune's Metromix or other Guides.

Of course the Downtown parade is also worth seeing, as orange dye is put in the Chicago River to turn the Chicago River Green. Later in the Day you may want to head over to Gaelic Park a few miles SW of the parade for more festivities. See my other post for information on that.

Here's the info:

South Side Irish St. Patrick's Day Parade - Welcome!

"One Hundred Thousand Welcomes"

The 27th Annual South Side Irish St. Patrick’s Day Parade will step off at 12 noon on Sunday, March 13, beginning at 103rd Street and Western Avenue, and continuing south to 115th Street. Approximately 120 families, schools, civic organizations and businesses will march along the parade route through the Beverly and Morgan Park neighborhoods. Little Company of Mary Hospital and Health Care Centers, a not-for-profit Catholic community hospital, will serve as the South Side Irish Parade’s 2005 Grand Marshal. The Parade's 2005 Special Honoree will be the Gus Foundation, in recognition of their support of pediatric brain tumor research and treatment.

Top O' the Marnin to ye!
Peter

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