Plainfield Hometown Irish Parade Cancelled

PLAINFIELD, IL — In a stark reversal from yesterday's announcement that the Plainfield Hometown Irish Parade would go on as planned, today Mayor Michael Collins and Parade Coordinator Tom Ruane both confirmed to Patch that the parade was in fact cancelled due to coronavirus concerns.

"Yesterday the direction was we were moving forward," Ruane said. "But in light of new information that was given to the village both from the state and federal level, the decision was made in the interest of public safety, to cancel the parade."

The decision, Ruane and Collins both said, is in line with the actions of many other communities in the Chicagoland area looking to slow the spread of coronavirus infection.

"It's looking like it's going to be cancelled," Collins said. "We're following the lead of many other communities."

Many other Chicagoland towns besides Plainfield that have already cancelled their public St. Patrick's Day festivities. Both Chicago parades were cancelled earlier this week, and Naperville announced Wednesday that their parade was to be suspended as well.

Ruane said cancelling the parade was not an easy decision.

"They were working all night on this... they wanted to make sure they had the proper information because, you know, there's a lot of disinformation out there," Ruane said. "They got all the proper information... and decided it was in the public's best interest not to move forward with the parade."

Earlier this week, Governor J.B. Pritzker declared a state of emergency in Illinois, urging state residents to, among other precautions, avoid unnecessary social contact. As of March 12, there were 25 confirmed cases of coronavirus infection in Illinois and more than 1,300 nationwide.

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