Your 2025 South Side Irish Parade Survival Guide: Know Before You Go

CHICAGO — There is no better place to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day than on the South Side of Chicago, and that includes New York City and Boston. The 2025 South Side Irish St. Patrick’s Day Parade is this Sunday, March 16. This is the parade’s 46th promenade down Western Avenue.

It wouldn’t be the South Side Irish Parade without rain or cold. The forecast calls for temperatures in the high 40s and a 55-percent chance of rain.

We've gathered the parade highlights, weather forecast, historical context and pretty much anything else you'll need or want to know before you head out to the parade. Follow our guide below and have a great Parade Day.

The Details

WHEN: Noon, Sunday, March 16
The parade steps off at noon Sunday from 103rd Street and Western Avenue. The parade lasts approximately two hours.
WHERE: Steps off from 103rd and Western Avenue, traveling south to 115th and Western Avenue, through Chicago’s Beverly and Morgan Park neighborhoods.

Getting There

Driving is not recommended as parking will be limited. If you are in the area, it's best to walk. Metra’s Rock Island Line 103rd Street/Beverly Hills and 111th Street/Morgan Park stations are within walking distance of the parade route down Western Avenue. Metra is adding extra trains for the downtown St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Chicago River-dye-ing Saturday, March 15, and the South Side Irish Parade Sunday, March 16. Details about train service are available on Metra.

Street Closures

Western Avenue will be closed between 99th Street and south of 115th Street beginning as early as 9 a.m. Cross streets 103rd and 111th are also likely to be closed near Western, possibly as far west as Kedzie and as east as Longwood. Side streets near Western between 99th and 115th may also be closed as early as 9 a.m. as the crowds gather.
The traffic restrictions are expected to be lifted by 3 p.m.

Parking Restrictions

Beginning at 6 a.m., there will be no street parking allowed on Western Avenue from 99th St. to 119th St. Beginning at 8 a.m., no street parking is allowed on the east side of Artesian from 103rd to 111th.There will be no parking on Claremont west side of street from 103rd to 107th. Expect traffic to be restricted on Western Avenue and surrounding side streets beginning at 9 a.m. On all east/west streets leading to Western Ave. between 103rd and 115th, expect portions of the street to be closed within 75 feet of Western Avenue or between the first alleyway and Western Avenue.

The Parade Committee encourages everyone to pay attention to signs in the area.
Parking restrictions are expected to be lifted by 3 p.m. The Parade Committee encourages everyone to pay attention to signs in the area.

Zero-Tolerance!!!

The parade had a two-year hiatus earlier this century after rowdy crowds – including some neighbors from the northwest suburbs – and heavy drinking put a damper on the family event. When the parade returned, it was with a strict no drinking policy. Police and private security personnel will be out in full force, stopping anyone with alcohol. You will also be banned from having alcohol on the Rock Island Metra before the parade.

If you're caught with open alcohol, fines of up to $1,000 for open containers of alcohol may be imposed. Security checkpoints staffed by private security and the Chicago Police Department will be surrounding the parade route. Also, anyone who witnesses a crime or encounters drunk behavior during the parade should call 911.

Comfort Stop

Beverly Evangelical Covenant Church, 10545 S. Claremont Ave., will open starting at 11:30 until approximately one hour after the parade ends. Visitors are welcome to use the bathrooms, enjoy a free snack, feed and change infants, or take a break from the weather. A worship service will be held at 9:30 a.m. ending before the parade.

Grand Marshal

Big Shoulders Fund, provides Catholic schools with a demonstrated need a quality, values-based education for Chicago and Northwest Indiana’s children, was named the 2025 Grand Marshal. The charitable organization will be leading the South Side Irish St. Patrick’s Day Parade through Beverly and Morgan Park this Sunday.

Inspired by Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, Big Shoulders Fund was founded as an independent charitable organization by a group of business and civic leaders in 1986. Big Shoulder ensures that children in Chicago’s most under-resourced communities can achieve their dreams through access to a quality, values-based education. The charitable program serves 25,000 students across 72 Catholic schools in the Chicago area, and expanded two years ago to 20 Catholic schools in Northwest Indiana. Since its inception, Big Shoulders Fund has raised $650 million.

Parade Honoree

The Mount Sion Program in its inaugural year at Brother Rice High School, 10001 S. Pulaski Road, Chicago, has been named parade honoree. Mount Sion Program is a special education inclusion program designed to meet the unique needs of students with moderate cognitive disabilities or significant learning disabilities.

Peer mentors take part of their school day to spend time with the students participating in the program. Participants attend classes like theology, social studies and other electives with other students. The name “Mount Sion” holds deep significance for Brother Rice. It is inspired by the first school founded by Blessed Edmund Rice in Waterford, Ireland, in 1802.

Float with about 75 marchers including members of the inaugural and incoming class of Mount Sion special education inclusive program and their families; Brother Rice HS Members of Brother Rice Crusaders for Inclusion that support Mount Sion students as peer mentors and collaborating with community partners.

Parade Queen

It’s good to be the queen. Beverly native Grace McKee will serve as the 2025 South Side Irish Parade Queen. She comes from three generations of Stockyard Kilty Band pipers and drummers, and was a tenor driver up until eighth grade.

“My papa [grandfather, the late Dave McKee Sr.], absolutely, looked forward to the South Side Irish Parade every year. As a member of Stockyard Kilty, I fondly remember just before stepping off, he would adjust my Glengarry bonnet as I somehow never managed to put it on quite right,” ]McKee recalled of her grandfather. “I am honored to represent the Parade as Queen this year. In memory of my papa, I hope to build on his love of this celebration and family and hope it brings even more magic to my family and the South Side Irish community.”

Parade History

This year's event will mark the 46th South Side Irish Parade. The parade started in 1979 when a group of neighborhood kids and their families marched around the block in little buggies and with homemade posters. Even in 2020, when the city canceled the larger event at the beginning of the pandemic, the “Wee Folks of Washtenaw and Talman,” marched down the sidewalk on the east side of Western Avenue, keeping the parade’s streak going.

• 8 pipe bands including lead off by Stock Yard Kilty Chicago’s oldest continuously run pipe and drum band, 5 area high school marching bands and more.
• NASCAR Chicago Street Race custom-wrapped Chevy Camero with marchers sharing info on summer Chicago event highlighting special new packages/prices notably new this year: kids 12 and under FREE all weekend with ticketed adult grounds pass
• Irish American Alliance with Irish wolf hounds
• Two Irish dance schools
• Consulate General of Ireland Consul General
• Honor Guards: Chicago Police; AFFI and Cook County Sherif Honor Guards
• Light the Line (Foundation bringing first of its kind mobile well-being mobile unit to law enforcement personnel, founded by Elizabeth French, the late CPD Officer Ella French’s mother)
• Original Baby Buggy Parade Float From 1st South Side Irish Parade in 1979 “Wee Folks of Washtnaw and Talman.”
• Local high school state champions: Mother McAuley Liberal Arts H.S. Volleyball, Brother Rice H.S. Volleyball and Mount Carmel H.S. Football
• MuSic Movement – grassroots org of MS Warriors and supporters that aim to rockout MS forever.
• Red & white Ozinga concrete mixer truck, a fourth generation family-owned business
• Metra
• Chicago Blues Mobile
• Chicago White Sox and Southpaw
• Windy City Ghostbusters
• Fire Museum of Chicago old-fashioned Engine 10
• CTA Mini bus
• Floats with live Irish music
• Many local parishes, area high school athletes, area Scout troops, Irish family floats, numerous community organizations and small businesses.

Schedule Of Events

• 9 a.m. - Floats begin staging on Western Ave.
• 11:45 a.m. - Grand Marshal Big Shoulders Fund and parade honoree Mt. Sion Program of Brother Rice High School and the Consul General of Ireland will cut the ribbon to kick off the parade at 103rd and Western Avenue.
• Noon - Parade steps off at 103rd and Western Ave., marching to 115th and Western Avenue. The parade is expected to last two hours.

Parade Sponsors

The South Side Irish St. Patrick’s Day Parade is generously supported by local area businesses, including:

Nascar Chicago Street Race, Metra, County Fair Foods, Old National Bank, Ozinga, The Beverly Review, Flood Brothers, Home Run Inn Beverly, Beverly Bank & Trust Company, N.A., Hilton Chicago/Oak Lawn, McCready Law, OSF Little Company of Mary Medical Center, Athletex Physical Therapy, Marquette Bank, The Busking Family, Raising Cane’s, Keeper’s Heart Irish American Whiskey, Hilton Oak Lawn, JDog Hauling Oak Lawn, Subaru of Evergreen Park, Gas N’ Wash, Chicago White Sox, Disparti Law, Rose Pest Solutions, Today’s Dental of Beverly, South Side Irish Imports; Lakeshore Beverage, Roofers and Waterproofers Local 11, IUEC Local 2; UIPAT District 14; Local 130, Local 134, Local 399, Local 150, Guinness, BudLight, Green River, Union Life Insurance Company, ComEd and Megent Financial, Cook County North America Building Trades and more.