Pride Parade to return this year

Chicago’s iconic Pride Parade will be back in person this June after a two-year hiatus.

Cautiously optimistic organizers confirmed Wednesday the iconic march will return to the streets of Northalsted this June.

“We’re doing this with our fingers crossed,” said Tim Frye, the parade’s coordinator. “We will be watching, of course, anything that may come up with COVID. We want only the safest possible participation for people. But at this point in time, it’s pretty much the parade it was in 2019.”

The rainbow-dressed revelers will march through the streets of Uptown and Lake View on June 26.

The march will host the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame, the Gerber Hart Library and Archives the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center as special guests.

The parade regularly drew crowds of more than 100,000 people before the pandemic. Last year’s march was pushed to October to allow for more people to receive vaccines. As the pandemic dragged on into the fall, it was canceled altogether.

“I would hate to have to do that again,” he said. “But if I had to, I definitely would.”

Entries for this year’s parade will be sent out next week, Frye said.