Pride Parade Getting Barricades

By Marcus Gilmer in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 22, 2009 9:20PM

There are a few changes in this year's Pride Parade, happening this weekend, but one of the biggest will be the installation of barricades along the parade route. The report comes from Michael Lehet at What's A Boy To Do (via WBEZ):

One of the biggest changes this year is that police barricades will be placed through the entire parade route that starts at Belmont/Halsted, runs up north to Broadway and then south to Diversey. In the past, parts of the parade route were barricaded off - but this year the entire event will be shut off from the crowd. This was prompted by an increase in attendance, a lot of bad behavior, but also because of an unfortunate accident last year when someone fell off of a float and broke a leg. So no more interacting with the parade participants.

There are also a few other rules this year, such as float participants no longer being allowed to leave a float once the parade has started.