The Chicago Pride Parade will no longer return on October 3.
Like many large-scale events and annual celebrations, Chicago Pride Parade was forced to cancel in-person celebrations in 2020 and instead go digital via a Twitch live stream and fundraiser that took place on June 20 and 21.
The Parade and celebrations of 2021, which typically draw over a million attendees, were then also deemed unsafe to go ahead in June due to the global pandemic still running riot. Organizers pushed dates back to October 3 which would instead mark the opening weekend of LGBTQ History Month and give the city enough time to vaccinate people and recover from the last year.
Now that date too has been disrupted by the Covid-19, and with the spread of Delta variant, Chicago’s 2021 LGBTQ+ Pride Celebrations have been canceled altogether.
Breaking: Chicago's Pride Parade canceled:https://t.co/JJ42903AxX
— WGN TV News (@WGNNews) September 1, 2021
In a statement released on Chicago.gopride.com on Wednesday, parade coordinator Tim Fyre said “To use the words of a song from the ’60s: ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ we really wanted and hoped that there could be a parade in 2021. We don’t feel, though, that we can do it safely for everyone in the parade and the people watching. We must cancel the parade for the second year.”
Fyre went on to say that in June 2022 organizers intend to throw “the best, most joyous, fabulous, and memorable Pride Parade ever. Count on it!”
The Chicago’s LGBTQ Pride Parade next year will be the first without Frye’s late husband, Richard Pfeiffer as the chief coordinator. Pfeiffer had coordinated Chicago’s LGBTQ Pride Parade since 1974 and had grown the parade from a few hundred participants to the vast number of attendees it typically sees today. Frye had intended to honor Pfeiffer, as well as several other individuals and organizations, at this year’s event.
Gay rights pioneer Richard Pfeiffer died Sunday. He guided the Chicago Pride Parade from its ragtag beginnings to a massive celebration of self-expression. https://t.co/iqsfM4WS1M
— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) October 8, 2019
The City of Chicago has allowed a number of large gatherings to go forward this summer, including Chicago’s enormous Lollapalooza festival in Grant Park. With COVID-19 cases increasing due to the Delta variant and the city on the verge of another surge in cases, many events are now postponing or also canceling altogether.
See more: 15 Extraordinary Exhibitions Taking Place In Chicago This Year That You Simply Cannot Miss
[Featured image from Shutterstock]