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Known as one of the biggest parties in Chicago, The 30th Annual Chicago South Side Irish Parade will take place on Sunday March 9, 2008. The South Side Irish Parade is taking place a week earlier this year due to the fact that Palm Sunday falls on Sunday March 16, 2008.

There is much information available yet for the 2008 South Side Irish Parade, but the parade has a rich history and this year is sure to follow suit. Be sure to check back on Chicago Hot Blog or the official South Side Irish Parade website for updated information as it becomes available.

South Side Irish Parade

The South Side Irish Parade is the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The South Side Irish Parade originally started in the early 1950s. The original parade route was on 79th Street from Ashland Avenue to Halsted Avenue in the St. Sabina Parish in Auburn Gresham. The year after Richard J. Daley was elected mayor in 1955, he brought the St. Patrick’s Day Parade downtown and the South Side parade ended in 1960. In 1979, families on the 109th block of S. Washtenaw and Talman streets (known forever in parade lore as the “Wee Folks of Washtenaw and Talman”) began their own parade, simply marching around the block. The South Side Irish Parade has grown since then and moved to its current route, down Western Avenue from 103rd Street to 115th Street through the Beverly and Morgan Park neighborhoods, in 1981. The parade, held on the Sunday before St. Patrick’s Day every year, is considered to be one of the largest St. Patrick’s Day community celebrations outside of Ireland. The 2008 parade will be the 30th annual parade. Of the two Chicago parades, the other being in downtown, it is the more raucous occasion.

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