47th annual South Side Irish Parade steps off at noon Sunday in Beverly neighborhood

CHICAGO — The Chicago River was dyed green and the sights and sounds of Irish culture were on full display Saturday during the 70th annual downtown St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

That was just the start of the St. Patrick’s Day weekend festivities in Chicago.

The festivities continue Sunday with the 47th annual South Side Irish Parade, which begins with a ribbon cutting at 11:45 a.m. then steps off at noon in the Beverly neighborhood, at West 103rd Street and South Western Avenue.

WGN-TV will be at the parade, featuring a WGN float and Bozo the Clown.

The South Side Irish Parade annually draws more than 100,000 people and features bands, floats, dancers and more marching south to West 115th Street.

The parade was the vision of two best friends, George Hendry and Pat Coakley, both raised on the South Side, Hendry in the St. Sabina Parish and Coakley in the Little Flower Parish in the Auburn neighborhood. They met in their early 30s after both moved to the Morgan Park community with their young wives.

There they became neighbors and best friends, and in 1979 they co-founded the South Side Irish Parade over beers at the kitchen table. They started the parade with 17 children from Morgan Park and a baby buggy as a float.

Grand Marshal

The parade is now much larger, of course, and the Grand Marshal of this year’s parade is the Big Shoulders Fund.

Inspired by Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, the Big Shoulders Fund was founded by a group of business and civic leaders in 1986 to provide support to schools in underserved communities in Chicago.

The Big Shoulders Fund has raised over $650 million since it started and today provides scholarships to over 5,000 children every year, Big Shoulders Fund President and CEO Josh Hale says.

“Those scholarships also provide enrichments, so mentors, tutors, access to lots of experiences, like museums,” Hale added. “We also help invest in classrooms and teachers.

“… Just like this parade brings people together as a strong community organization, our schools in each one of these little communities — together as a network — we think they bring together the greatest diversity of our city into one wonderful tapestry that makes our city a better place for all.”

Hale says the Big Shoulders Fund serves a network of 92 schools, encompassing about 25,000 children.

“Over the life of the Big Shoulders Fund, hundreds of thousands, if not more, have benefitted from this,” Hale said. “Ultimately, we want these children to go on to brighter futures.”

Hale said about 250 children will be marching with the Big Shoulders Fund during the South Side Irish Parade on Sunday.

“That sort of energy, you can’t keep that down,” Hale said. “So we’re going to be marching with pride and happiness.”

Program at Brother Rice honored

Meanwhile, the special honoree at this year’s parade is the Mount Sion Program at Brother Rice High School, located on the South Side. The program is a special education inclusion initiative, designed to meet the unique needs of students with moderate cognitive disabilities or significant learning disabilities.

The Mount Sion Program is finishing its first year during this academic school year.

“We’ve garnered so much community support that we’ll be finishing our first year this year and welcoming our second class next year,” Matt Prunckle, program director, said.

Prunckle says there are currently four students in the program. Three more have been accepted for next year, and the plan is to grow the program by three or four students each year.

“The impact has been great,” Prunckle said. “It’s not limited to the boys that are in the program. It’s really changed and strengthened our whole entire community.

“… Brother Rice is a better place because we’ve opened our door to more young men.”

Brother Rice will have a float at Sunday’s parade, featuring current and former students and families, as well as members of its boys basketball team, which just finished as the IHSA Class 3A state runner-up over the weekend at the State Tournament in Champaign.

“It fits in line with the values of the parade, with that faith, tradition and community,” Prunckle said. “… It shows the best of what Beverly is all about.”