Is The Pride Parade Getting Too Large, Too Fast?
By Chuck Sudo in News on Jun 26, 2014 7:35PM
In addition to being one of the most fun parades of the year, the Chicago Pride Parade is one of the largest of its kind in the country. The city estimated one million people attended last year's parade and the numbers have grown year to year.
For many people attending the Pride Parade the party doesn't start when they reach the route. In recent years we've witnessed people drinking on Orange Line trains from Midway in the early hours of the morning to get a head start on the festivities. If it's happening on the Orange Line it's surely happening on the other routes in CTA's train and bus system. Couple that with swelling crowds on rooftops, balconies and streets along the parade route and it can be easy to see why the city's promise to crack down on instances of drinking in public and the parties above the route have an air of "Big Brother is watching you."
Chicago Police Department Town Hall District Cmdr. Elias Voulgaris told DNAInfo Chicago they will be cracking down on rooftop parties and balconies that aren't designated party areas. "We don't want individuals gathering on a roof that is not designated to have parties or occupants," Voulgaris said.
The city said earlier it intends to enforce the tighter parade ordinance restrictions enacted for last year's South Side Irish Parade this weekend. That ordinance, proposed by 19th Ward Ald. Matt O'Shea to keep "idiots" from marring the renewed family-friendly parade, increased the minimum fine for adults caught drinking on the public way to $500 and doubled the maximum fine to $1,000. The alternative to the fines is six months in jail. Anyone caught pissing in public near a parade in progress could face similar fines and jail terms of five-to-ten days in jail.
Of course, the city also said they wouldn't tolerate this last year.
Fabulous as Pride Parade is, there are always a few bad apples who overindulge, take their revelry a step too far and wind up bringing the party down as they head to the bars in Boystown or home after. So we can understand why city officials want to keep things in check.
By contrast, the Pride Parade is supposed to be a boisterous affair and, compared to the South Side Irish Parade and other events such as the annual Twelve Bars of Christmas bar crawl through Wrigleyville and Lakeview, it's rarely resulted in property damage or drunken hordes of people fighting with cops.
Another thing to consider is the litany of bus re-routes and added train service for Sunday. Nine bus routes will be detoured to accommodate street closures and the "L" system will be operating at near maximum capacity. With the growth of the parade in recent years, this could be another sign things may be coming to a head and organizers may have to resolve the growing crowds again.
Our advice? Everyone keep calm, use common sense and be amazing.