(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Organizers of the South Side Irish Parade have announced this year’s grand marshals will be the Chicago Police and Fire Department chaplain ministries.
Parade co-coordinator Marianne Rowan Leslie said there will be 100 groups, families, floats, marching bands and, of course, Irish bands in this year’s event.
“The South Side Irish Parade has grown to become the largest community-based parade outside of Ireland,” she says.
Leslie says it’s appropriate that the grand marshals of the parade are the Chicago Police and Fire Department chaplain ministries because of the large numbers of police and firefighters who live on the Southwest Side.
“Both police and fire chaplains provide round-the-clock support to both active and retired officers and their families in times of extreme stress,” she said.
Father Bill McFarlane, the Fire Department chaplain, says his is a “ministry of presence” -- being there when firefighters or paramedics need to talk.
“Every day of my life, I pray for firefighters, police officers, paramedics and their call-takers and dispatchers, the hidden heroes of our city,” says the Leo High School graduate.
Fr. Dan Brandt, a Chicago Police Department chaplain, said he’s humbled to be named one of the grand marshals of the South Side Irish Parade. He accepted the honor on behalf of the men and women he serves, as well as the 595 Chicago police officers who have died in the line of duty.
“These men and women, these heroes, see more evil in one shift, in one tour, 8 or 10 hours, than you or I or the average person would see in a lifetime.”
The Beverly Area Planning Association is the honoree of the South Side Irish Parade, which is Sunday, March 12, starting at 103rd and Western in Beverly.
The grand marshal announcement was held at the Cork and Kerry bar. Rain prevented the announcement from being made where it was scheduled, across the street in the King-Lockhart Memorial Park, on 106th and Western.
The park is named for Chicago firefighters Patrick King and Anthony Lockhart, who died on that site 25 years ago Saturday in a fire at the Beverly Tire Store.
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