Saint Patrick's Day Parade .com

     The Largest Irish Parade Website in the World:  "Where the Irish Meet on the Internet for Parade Information"

 

Attention all honorees (Grand Marshals Irishmen of the Year, etc...) an important message for your special day.

 

                   

 

2010 Limited Saint Parade Day Parade Pins are now available, Buy your limited edition pin now, quickly to sell out

Collect all (4) High Quality Limited Edition Collector Pins now, while they last.

 

Attention: All Bands, Pipers, Step Dancers and Irish Organizations click here

 

 

 

2010 Chicago Saint Patrick's Day Parade

Saturday, March 13th, 2010  12:00 noon

 

The parade begins at 12:00 noon, Saturday March 13th. The parade starts at Balbo and Columbus. The parade units will proceed north on Columbus Drive and the viewing stand will be located in front of Buckingham Fountain.

 

We need your help to cover and write an article about the grand parade.

 

 

Dyeing the Chicago River 10:45am: Saturday March 13th

This is scheduled for 10:45, Saturday March 13th and can be best viewed from the upper level bridges at Michigan Ave or Columbus Drive.

 

 

The 2010 South Side Irish St. Patrick’s Day Parade

The South Side Irish Parade Committee will hold the 33rd Annual South Side Irish Parade on Sunday, March 14, 2010

Chicago South Side Irish St. Patrick's Day Parade  click here

 

The South Side Irish Parade Committee will hold the 31st Annual South Side Irish Parade on Sunday, March 14, 2010.

The South Side Irish Parade Committee is pleased to announce the creation of the South Side Irish Parade Family Fest, a culturally-rich St. Patrick’s Day celebration to be held on Saturday, March 13, 2010.

Hosted in conjunction with the Beverly Arts Center, this daylong event will feature activities such as an Irish soda bread contest, a best-dressed “Irish” dog contest, and a children’s parade around the art center’s grounds. The event will also offer family-friendly activities such as Irish-themed arts and crafts for kids, children’s films, and a live production by the Beverly Arts Centers’ own children’s theater group. In addition, this event will feature food, drink, numerous Irish vendors, and live entertainment from bagpipers, Irish dancers, and a host of Irish musicians. The evening will culminate with a performance by Hothouse Flowers, a world-renowned band hailing from Ireland that combines traditional Irish music with influences from soul, gospel and rock.

 

The South Side Irish Parade Family Fest will be the marquis event in a 10 day celebration of St. Patrick’s Day in the Beverly/Morgan Park community – a celebration which will begin with the return of the Chicago Irish Film Festival. Now in its eleventh year, this series of features, shorts, documentaries and animated films is one of only a few such Irish film festivals in the United States. It will be held at the BAC from March 5-10 – visit www.chicagofilmfestival.com for complete details.

 

Also being held at the BAC is the Chicago Rose of Tralee contest – a competition in which women ages 17-27 exhibit their knowledge of and dedication to their Irish heritage. The winner of this contest will be crowned the Chicago Rose on the evening of March 12th and will go on to represent Chicago in the international competition in Tralee, Ireland.

Beverly/Morgan Park’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities will peak the following day with the South Side Irish Parade Family Fest, an event which will, in addition to the aforementioned activities, also be featuring a Grand Raffle. The Grand Raffle will be a major source of funding for the fest, so the parade committee encourages all community residents to consider supporting the raffle. Tickets are $50 a piece and prizes range from $250 to $10,000. For more information about the raffle or to purchase tickets, contact (773) 393-8687 or [email protected].

 

Before 4:00 p.m., admission to the South Side Irish Parade Family Fest will be $10 for those 13 and older, and $7 for seniors 60 years of age and older. Children 12 and under will be admitted free of charge. After 4:00 p.m., admission will be $25.00 per person. The admission fee will grant patrons access to the day’s entertainment as well as all children’s/family activities. Food, drink and merchandise can all be purchased separately. To purchase admission tickets in advance, contact the Beverly Arts Center at (773) 445-3838.

 

On Sunday, March 14, 2010, the traditional day of the South Side Irish Parade, St. Cajetan Catholic Church will hold its annual Irish Mass at 9 a.m. The parade committee anticipates that other local parishes will maintain their worship traditions as well. Following Mass, residents of the Beverly/Morgan Park community will be invited to gather at the Beverly Arts Center once again, this time for a blessing and reception. The parade committee then encourages locals to continue to celebrate in their homes that afternoon with family and friends, just as in years past.

Please visit this website again in the coming weeks for more information on the upcoming South Side Irish Parade Family Fest.

The 2010 South Side Irish St. Patrick’s Day Parade will step off at 12 noon on Sunday, March 14th, 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 Gus Foundation, in recognition of their support of pediatric brain tumor research and treatment.

This is the story of how the South Side Irish St. Patrick’s Parade began. As with many stories told by the Irish, exaggeration is inevitable, however, this story is completely true. The parade was the vision of two best friends, George Hendry and Pat Coakley. Both were raised on the South Side of Chicago, George in the St. Sabina Parish and Pat in the Little Flower parish in the Auburn neighborhood. The two did not meet until their early thirties, when both moved to the Morgan Park community with their young wives. There they became neighbors, best friends and in 1979, co-founders of the South Side Irish Parade.

In the winter of 1979, sitting around the Hendry’s kitchen table enjoying a few beers, George and Pat fondly remembered their experiences at the original South Side Irish Parade (aka the Southtown Parade) that was held on 79th Street. That parade moved downtown in 1960. It was at this time, while they were reminiscing, that George and Pat felt the obligation to create “something” for their children and the children of their friends and “green” neighbors. Nearly twenty years had passed, but now the South Side would rise again with a new parade in a new location for a new generation.

So on a rainy Saturday, March 17, 1979, George and Pat, with the help of their wives, Mary and Marianne (Mernie), gathered 17 children from the West Morgan Park community to march in the first South Side Irish St. Pat’s Parade. The children were the only marchers: Kevin Norris dressed as St. Patrick; Tim Kelly dressed as a leprechaun; Eileen Hughes was the parade’s first and only queen; a few Boy Scouts, including Jack and George Hendry and Pat and Kevin Coakley, carried the American flag; and the parade’s original float, a baby buggy covered with a box decorated with shamrocks and the 26 county flags of Ireland, was pushed around the 10900 blocks of Washtenaw and Talman. The children were given the moniker “The Wee Folks of Washtenaw and Talman”. The theme of the parade was “Bring Back St. Pat”, which was George and Pat’s way of saying bring back to the South Side the parade they had cherished as children. Notices of the parade which were placed in mailboxes along the “route” invited neighbors to stand on their porches and wave to the marchers. Immediately following the parade, the children were invited to the Hendry’s basement for Kool-aid and Twinkies. Later that evening, the adults continued the party in the Coakley’s basement until the “wee” hours.

Others noticed this small gathering and celebration in the community and so in 1980, the parade moved from the sidewalks to the side streets and began at Kennedy Park. Three hundred participants marched past friendly neighbors watching from their front yards and windows. Marchers included families with wagons, children on decorated bicycles, dogs, and a bag piper. The St. Cajetan School’s band sat in chairs in front of the Kennedy Park field house and played for the gathering crowd. The parade meandered through the neighborhood and ended at the Beverly Bank parking lot, where Terry McEldowney sang Irish songs for the crowd.

It was hard to believe, but the parade was gaining in popularity and George and Mary and Pat and Mernie decided it was time to take the parade to THE STREET. On Sunday, March 15, 1981 the parade would march down Western Ave. for the first time, where it continues to march today. Then-Mayor Jane Byrne would only provide a permit for the southbound lane of Western from 103rd Street to 115th Street, while live northbound traffic whizzed by in the opposite lane. The Chicago Police were ordered not to provide crowd and traffic control, but parade volunteers and a few crossing guards assumed the responsibilities and the parade marched on safely. The 1981 parade was a parade of “firsts” – traditions that continue today and without which the parade just wouldn’t be the parade. This was the year that St. Cajetan Church, the official parish of the parade, would celebrate with a Mass honoring St. Patrick. Following the parade, a party commenced in St. Cajetan’s Memorial Hall. It was named the Post-Parade Party, and the parade trilogy and unofficial motto, which referenced the three successive aspects of each Parade Day, was born: “Pray, Parade, and Party”. Today, many families in the area celebrate the day by attending a special Parade Mass, then gather along Western Avenue to watch the parade, and finally head home to host parties for family and friends. A number of neighborhood families also use this gathering day as an excuse for an annual family reunion. Another 1981 first for the parade was the use of a Grand Marshall. That year, three neighborhood children, Bess Hendry, Annie Coakley and Sean Crowe, were the parade’s first Grand Marshalls. All three were chosen to signify that the parade would be first and foremost a family affair.

With the success of the 1981 parade, it was apparent that George and Pat needed some help. They asked a few friends and local parishioners to get involved, and a committee was formed. Without the help of Fr. Marty O’Donovan, Mike Hayes, Jim Davoren, Bob Rafferty, Paul Poynton, Sean McCarthy, Bill Letz, Jack McNicholas, Dick Norris, Bill Gainer, Jim Sheridan and Bill Wallace in those earlier years, the parade wouldn’t be the success it is today. Currently, there are 26 committee members handling everything from logistics, float entries, sanitation and sponsorship to related events, PR/Media, marshals, bands and merchandising. Today, the South Side Irish Parade is considered the largest neighborhood-based St. Patrick’s Day parade outside of Dublin. It grew from 17 children marching around the block 27 years ago to an event that hosts over 15,000 marchers and 250,000+ spectators each year.

Each year after 1981, the official parade route has been from 103rd & Western to 115th & Western, and each year a Grand Marshall is chosen, often a charitable organization that is dedicated to children. Each year since 2004, the parade has also designated another organization as a Special Honoree, thus enabling the parade to highlight and honor two unique organizations each year.

The South Side Irish St. Patrick’s Day Parade was created for Pat and George’s children. Children, family, faith and heritage are what this great parade is all about!

Parade Mass

The annual celebration of faith and heritage will take place on Sunday, March 12th, 2006, when the South Side Irish St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee and St. Cajetan Parish host the Parade Mass.

The celebration will begin with Irish songs and music at 8:30 AM, followed by Mass at 9:00 AM. This year’s celebrant will be Fr. Gene Smith, Associate Pastor of St. Barnabas Church in Chicago.

St. Cajetan Church is located at 112th and Artesian (2500W) in the West Morgan Park neighborhood of Chicago. The St. Cajetan Parish Center can be reached at 773-238-4100.

For additional info visit our friends @ the official website http://www.southsideirishparade.org/