Weekend events held across Chicago area ahead of Mother's Day, including Purpose Over Pain brunch

CHICAGO (WLS) -- This weekend, Chicago is celebrating mothers.

Several events were held Saturday in the city and the suburbs to acknowledge moms and all they do ahead of Mother's Day Sunday.

It's not just families honoring their moms. Mothers are uniting to support each other.

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A Saturday Mother's Day celebration took on a festive tone as the 2026 Magnificent Mothers of Praise and Power Extravaganza kicked off on the city's West Side, and 81-year-old mother and grandmother Barbara McGowan was there.

"You're a mom every day, not just today," McGowan said. "You're always a mom."

Sponsored by 37th Ward Alderwoman Emma Mitts, the event brought the community together to celebrate and highlight local mothers.

"It just became a tradition, because now we're celebrating six years of the Mother's Day Extravaganza, and we just go all out," Ald. Mitts said.

Special guests along with elected officials attended the pre-Mother's Day event, which featured appliance giveaways and the gifting of other essential items donated by Black Men United.

"You name it, it's out there, icemaker, air fryers," said Bishop John Harrell with Black Men United. "We're just here to say, mothers, we love you."

In west suburban Oak Park, Illinois U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth hosted local leaders, community activists and moms to talk about the challenges of motherhood and what families now face under the current administration.

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For many moms this Mother's Day weekend, the holiday is bittersweet because they've tragically lost a child. Around 125 moms attended this year's Purpose Over Pain Mother's Day Brunch.

Dantingnac Lock lost her 36-year-old son Cordero in December 2022.

"We all we all walk in the same shoes," Lock said. "Our stories may be different, but we all have lost somebody that we birthed."

Co-organizer Pam Bosley says she hopes to help mothers coping with their pain. She lost her son Terrell to gun violence in 2006.

"You get a chance to talk about how you feel," Bosley said. "If you don't even talk about it, we could look at you and know what you feel. So it's a sister circle that no mother wants to be in."

The moms received a "sip of healing" tea cup symbolizing their emotional journey and released balloons in their children's honor.

More events and celebrations are being over the weekend across the Chicago area.