Spring 2010  |  By Doug Elwell, editor and publisher

o the great surprise and disappointment of many, in 2009 the South Side Irish Parade Committee decided to end the traditional Chicago South Side Irish St. Patrick's Day Parade, which had been held every year for the previous 31 years. The organizers, fed up with the increasing problems with public drunkenness, violence and general debauchery during the parade, decided to end the parade part of the festival, and instead focus on promoting a new, more family-focused event called the South Side Irish Parade Family Fest.

The Family Fest, which has already been growing in popularity over the last few years as an alternative to the drunken scenes that the parade would often generate, is much closer to the original intent of the parade. First started back in 1979 by two residents of the heavily Irish Beverly neighborhood in Chicago named George Hendry and Pat Coakley, the parade was initially only a small, informal affair, consisting simply of a boy dressed as St. Patrick, followed by 17 children dubbed the "wee folk". From there the parade grew steadily over the years, until in 2009, over 300,000 people packed the city streets, with much public drunkenness, fights and even assaults on over a dozen police officers.

The new South Side Irish Parade Family Fest is designed to be more family friendly.

The Family Fest, held in conjunction with the Beverly Arts Center, will focus on such family-oriented activities as a children's parade around the grounds of the arts center, an Irish soda bread baking contest, and even a "best-dressed Irish dog" contest. Additional events include arts and crafts, children's film and even children's theater, put on by the Beverly Arts Center's children's theater group. For adults the Family Fest will offer live entertainment from Irish musicians, bagpipers and dancers. The peak of the evening will feature a performance by Dublin original Hothouse Flowers, whose style has been described as a fusion of traditional Irish music, rock, soul and gospel.

A local Evergreen Park man has called for a pub crawl to protest the abolition of the South Side Irish St. Patrick's Day Parade, starting a Facebook page specifically to raise awareness of this informally organized, adult alternative to the parade. He invited his 200 Facebook friends, but was amazed when over 13,000 people responded that they would attend the pub crawl, with another 7,000 saying that they may attend. He is now hoping that his pub crawl will beat the Guinness Book of World Records record for number of people attending a pub crawl, set in New York last year at 3,163. Police and public officials, however, would prefer that people would avoid the pub crawl, and have requested that people avoid the area the night of the crawl.

Other official events during the week preceding the Family Fest include the Chicago Rose of Tralee Competition, and the Chicago Irish Film Festival. The Chicago Rose of Tralee Festival is held every year at the Beverly Arts Center located in Chicago's historic Beverly/Morgan Park neighborhood. Every year 30 young Irish lasses from around the Midwest come to compete for the Midwest regional crown, the winner going on to compete in the International Rose of Tralee Festival which takes place every year in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland. The Beverly Arts Center will also host the 11th annual Chicago Irish Film Festival on March 5-10, which will feature short and feature length films from Irish filmmakers both from America and Europe.

Information & Directions

South Side Irish Parade Family Fest activities this year will take place during a 10-day period prior to St. Patrick's Day, centering around the Beverly Arts Center in the Beverly/Morgan Park neighborhood of Chicago. The festival will start with the Chicago Irish Film Festival on March 5, and end with the traditional Catholic Mass at St. Cajetan Catholic Church on March 14th. Celebrants are requested to keep any afternoon festivities restricted to their homes. Beverly Arts Center is located at 2407 W. 111th St., Chicago, IL 60655. Phone: 773-445-3838, fax: 773-445-0386, email: bac@beverlyartcenter.org, website: www.beverlyartcenter.org. You can also follow them on Facebook and Twitter. Business Hours, subject to change, are Monday-Friday 9:00am - 9:00pm, Saturday 9:00am - 9:00pm, Sunday 12:00pm - 6:00pm. St. Cajetan's Catholic Church is located at 2445 W. 112th Street, Chicago IL 60655. Phone: 773-474-7800, fax: 773-474-7878, website: www.cajetan.org.

Links

South Side Irish St. Patrick's Day Parade - official website
Beverly Arts Center
Chicago Tribune: South Side Irish pub crawl? Evergreen Park Man Organizes Protest of Parade’s Demise
Chicago Tribune: Beverly Hopes to Please Kids and St. Pat’s Revelers
Irish Central: Chicago Southside St. Patrick's Day Parade Canceled and Replaced by Pub Crawl
Diaspora.ie: South Side Irish Parade
South Side Irish Parade: Gone, not Forgotten
Chicago Rose of Tralee International Festival
Chicago Irish Film Festival
St. Cajetan's Catholic Church

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