Next Year's Pride Parade Will Be Shorter And Safer, Organizers Say

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Dec 24, 2015 5:02PM

The 2016 Pride Parade will cap off at just 150 parade entries—e.g. floats and groups of marchers—this year, down from 200 entries last year.

That's just half the number of entries that the parade had a decade ago, according to the RedEye. The changes come amid years of concerns from local police officers and aldermen that the parade has gotten too large and the crowds surrounding it are hard to control.

"We're cutting down the number of entries in the parade dramatically to tighten up the parade," Richard Pfeiffer, the parade coordinator, told the Tribune.

Crime has also notoriously been a problem during Pride, particularly in the evening hours after the afternoon parade has wound down. About 52 people were arrested in connection with last year's Pride Parade, and two of them were charged with felonies.

Pfeiffer told the Tribune that security around the parade will be further beefed up in 2016 to ward off potential problems.

Some Lakeview residents have been calling for elected officials to move the parade elsewhere, perhaps downtown; but it appears the parade will be returning to Lakeview for another year in 2016.