Hometown Irish Parade Is Coming Up: Grand Marshal Announced

PLAINFIELD, IL — With Plainfield's Hometown Irish Parade less than a month away, organizers at the Village Preservation Association have announced this year's grand marshal.

Historian Michael Lambert, a lifelong Plainfield resident, will serve as grand marshal, leading the parade bringing bagpipers, Irish dancers, musical groups and acrobats to downtown Plainfield on March 16.

Lambert is an architect who focuses on historic preservation. When someone has a question about old buildings or a past public figure, he's often posed the question.

Lambert operated an architectural firm in a vintage house in Plainfield for more than 30 decades while also serving for 11 years as a preservation planner for Geneva. Although he's semi-retired as of June 2024, he continues to offer consulting services at his recently renamed firm, Arris Architectural and Preservation Consulting.

"I've had a blast doing what I've done," he told the Historic Preservation Association in an interview. "You don't realize how well you can know a community until you start looking at its history."

Step off for the Hometown Irish Parade, which takes place yearly — besides a hiatus in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 — since 2002, is set for 1 p.m. March 16. The procession will start at Plainfield Central High School and make its way through the downtown area, traversing Commercial, Illinois, Lockport and James streets.

This year's Irish Princesses will be announced soon, according to the parade website.