Grand Marshal Chosen For Plainfield Hometown Irish Parade

PLAINFIELD, IL — The ceremonial leader of this year's Hometown Irish Parade is 78-year-old Joliet resident Bill Habiger. According to parade planning committee member Bill Markley, Habiger was chosen for his decades of investments in Plainfield. Habiger, the owner of the Joliet-based property management company Lincolnshire Properties, Inc., has overseen the construction of several apartment buildings in the village, as well as the renovation of the Plainfield "Clock Tower" on the corner of Illinois and Lockport streets.

"All the things he's done in Plainfield, the ways he's given back to Plainfield, helped us out; that's kind of why [he was selected]," Markley said.

It's not every year that a non-Plainfield resident is chosen to lead the parade, a fact that isn't lost on Habiger. He said he was surprised as anyone when he received the nomination earlier this week.

"I thought, 'Gee, it's really an honor to be chosen for Grand Marshal and [I] didn't even grow up in Plainfield,'" Habiger said.

Habiger is a native of rural Kansas, and first found his way to the west Chicago suburbs via a job with construction equipment company Caterpillar Inc. in the 1960s. He has been involved with real estate and property management efforts in the area since 1980.

"I grew up on a farm in Kansas, went to Kansas State University... then went to work for Caterpillar in Peoria," he said. "And I was transferred to Joliet in 1968 I believe it was. Been here ever since."

Habiger said he has a great deal of admiration for Plainfield and the work residents have done to build the town out since he first arrived. He added that he hoped they would welcome a non-Plainfielder on Parade day.

"I've worked with the Village of Plainfield since 1980 off and on... Plainfield's done an excellent job with their downtown area," he said. "I felt the fact that they asked me, not being from Plainfield, it meant a lot."

The Plainfield Hometown Irish Parade is planned to start at 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 15. For more information, please visit the parade website. To learn more about Bill Habiger, visit his online biography on the same site.