Pride Parade returns to Chicago this fall
Chicago Pride in the Park also coming back to Grant Park as part of LGBTQ celebrations
CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Chicago Pride Parade will return this fall, a spokesman said Wednesday.
Tim Frye confirmed the parade will take place Oct. 3. It will return to its regular June date in 2022, he said.
The parade will begin at noon, and its route will remain the same as in past years: Beginning at Montrose and Broadway and then moving south on Broadway to Halsted and continuing south on Halsted to Belmont, where it turns east to Broadway and then south on Broadway to Diversey where it again turns east on Diversey to the end point at Cannon Drive.
Pride Parade applications will be sent out in mid- to late-June.
October is LGBTQ Pride History Month.
Pride in the Park is also back, returning to Grant Park as one of the first outdoor summer festivals to come back after the coronavirus pandemic shut everything down in 2020.
Organizers said they will hold a two-day, COVID-safe outdoor festival June 26 and 27.
"It's exciting and for one of the first events to be a pride event, very fitting for Chicago, one of the very first cities that have an official LGBTQ neighborhood," said Dusty Carpenter, president and organizer of Pride in the Park.
Carpenter said this was a plan months in the making.
"We kind of just really lucked up, you know, I could have never thought this wouldn't be possible in May, but the end of June is kind of the perfect timing and all the information that's coming out from the CDC, the last couple days watching how numbers are trending," he said.
The festival will bring performances and speech embracing equality, diversity and fun to Grant Park, and will employ hundreds in the city.
"Organizers, designers, drag queens, performers, all have not worked in like 16 months," Carpenter pointed out.
Event organizers have implemented a robust safety and health plan to keep festival attendees safe while still having fun.
"Anybody that is 18 and up is going to be required to have the 'Health Pass by Clear' app and there's two requirements, you're either going to have to verify your vaccination to clear, or you're going to have to have a negative PCR test within three days," he said.
For more information, go to prideintheparkchicago.com
