The event opened with a moment of silence for the Orlando massacre victims, followed by a parade of portraits showing each of the 49 victims shot and killed at the gay nightclub, Pulse. This year’s parade saw huge crowds and heavy security, and for many in the crowd, the event trumpeting LGBT pride took on a new sense of significance after the massacre in Orlando. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.ĬHICAGO - The 47 th annual Pride Parade brought thousands of people to Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood to celebrate the LGBT community. Both had strong support from many gay and lesbian voters.This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Both the Illinois Democratic and Republican parties have been heavily represented, most noticeably by former Governor Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, and former Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, a Republican. With the increasing political participation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans and the community’s relatively high financial resources through political action groups and as individual donors, Illinois politicians have increased their presence at the Chicago Pride Parade. Recent parades have started at noon on Halsted Street, proceeding north from Belmont Avenue, passing the Center on Halsted at Waveland Avenue south on Broadway (at Grace Street) to Diversey Parkway and east on Diversey Parkway to Cannon Drive. Today the parade takes place through the main streets of Lake View East, a neighborhood enclave of the Lakeview community area.
The first parade was organized on Saturday, June 27, 1970, as a march from Washington Square Park (“Bughouse Square”) to the Water Tower at the intersection of Michigan and Chicago avenues, which was the route originally planned, and then many of the participants extemporaneously marched on to the Civic Center (now Richard J. It is considered the culmination of the larger Gay and Lesbian Pride Month, as promulgated by the Chicago City Council and Mayor of Chicago. The Chicago Pride Parade, also colloquially (and formerly) called the Chicago Gay Pride Parade or PRIDE Chicago, is the annual gay pride parade held on the last Sunday of June in Chicago, Illinois in the United States. Chicago is expecting crowds of over one million. The 44th annual Chicago Pride Parade will be eventful with more than 200 entries and openly gay former NFL player Wade Davis as the grand marshal. The Parade will take place from Broadway & Montrose, stretching over a 4-mile route with over 150 entries. (Only parade registrants traveling down the middle of the street, police officers, other city officials, parade marshals and credentialed media reps will be allowed in the street). Chicago Pride Fest is a 2-day festival that leads up to the Chicago Pride Parade with up to 100,000 participants expected, celebrating LGBTQ+ life, culture and community. Spectators will be required to remain behind the barricades. So the plans are to line the parade route with barricades on both sides of the street from beginning to the end of the parade route. The entries represent community organizations, businesses, governmental officials and individual community members.Ĭrowd estimates each year are in the hundreds of thousands. The parade will feature 250 registered entries including floats, decorated vehicles, performance groups, a marching band and walking contingents. I’ve been wanting to go and watch it for years.
Image 1: 1975 edition of Chicago Gay Crusader at the Gerber-Hart Archive and Library. The parade typically attracts more than one million attendeesthat number isn't expected change, in spite of the colder October temperatures that will greet revelers as they line the streets. The early route was downtownstarting in Bughouse Square (which is now Washington Park). Ok yet AGAIN this year I’m gonna miss the parade. It was five years after the city hosted its first Pride Parade. ROUTE: Step off from Halsted/Belmont corner, proceeding north on Halsted then south on Broadway then east on Diversey, to Cannon Drive (in Lincoln Park). LINE UP: Halsted Street (from Belmont Avenue to Fullerton Parkway)