CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — It might have felt a bit more like a Thanksgiving or Christmas Day event, but that didn’t stop Chicagoans from flocking to an Irish parade Sunday afternoon on the city’s Northwest Side.
“Northwest Side Irish St. Patrick’s Day parade—been coming here ever since it started,” said parade attendee Jeanie O’Grady. “Sleet, snow, rain, we still go.”
O’Grady wasn’t alone as crowds, decked in green, lined the streets of Old Norwood Park for Chicago’s Northwest Side Irish Parade.
“My family immigrated from Ireland—all four of my grandparents—and my family has been going to the downtown parade, but now it’s a little easier to go to this one because it’s so close,” she said.
Meanwhile, business was booming for bars along the parade route, where some stopped in for warmth and a festive beverage. Vendors who walked along the floats had a big day, too, selling St. Patrick’s Day-themed winter gear.
“Hats, scarves, gloves—mainly gloves—I’ve sold almost all my Irish gloves,” one vendor told WBBM.
One of his customers said she wasn’t even cold after she picked up a pair of gloves.
“I’m doing it for more of the decorative [reason],” she said. “It’s all about the presentation.”
Parade goers in Old Norwood Park didn’t seem too troubled about missing another similar parade that was taking place on the South Side Sunday.
“North Side is where it’s at,” one attendee said.
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