CHICAGO CITY HALL (WBBM Newsradio) -- One year after the sudden demise of a Pride-related gathering in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood, organizers say they'll have a full weekend of events this year.
"North Side Queer Pride" set for June 27 and 28 encompasses events at three different sites around the Rogers Park neighborhood, and is intended to unite events in "Jarvis Square" with the longtime "Pride North" street party associated with The Glenwood bar. However, the organizer of "Pride North" abruptly shut down the festival with 24 hours notice last year, just before The Glenwood went out of business.
"People loved Pride North," said local Ald. Maria Hadden, noting that the sudden cancellation of the festival left people "sad."
"If you want to think of the 'too big to fail' thing, if you want to think of 'too significant to fail,' ... people were pretty devastated when it did fail," said Ald. Hadden (49th Ward).
But Ald. Hadden praised the neighborhood business and community leaders who stepped in after the failure of "Pride North" to plan events at three different locations: Jarvis Square at Jarvis and Greenview, Glenwood south of Morse and at "A Just Harvest," 7649 N. Paulina Ave.
"This is just gonna grow," predicted Ald. Hadden, who said events over the two days include DJ sets, a family parade and sing-along, LGBTQ+ business pop-ups and a drag show. However, one feature of modern Pride celebrations will be missing.
"No politicians tabling, or pamphleting or collecting signatures," she said, adding that organizers wanted to keep the events community-focused.
'North Side Queer Pride' to replace, expand on failed 'Pride North'
'North Side Queer Pride' to replace, expand on failed 'Pride North'
