The Chicago Pride Parade will officially return on October 3, after being canceled last year.
Like many large-scale events and annual celebrations, Chicago Pride Parade was forced to cancel in-person celebrations last year and instead go digital via a Twitch live stream and fundraiser that took place on June 20 and 21.
The Parade and celebrations, which typically draw over a million attendees, will return this year and resume its famed route through Lakeview and Uptown. This year, however, they will take place in October instead of the usual last weekend of Pride Month in June.
Chicago Pride Parade announces 2021 return with big date change – first reported by @GoPride #chicago #chicagopride #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtchicago #gaychicago #northalsted #boystown #boystownchicago #pride2021 🏳️🌈https://t.co/3VIbpxyNzj
— GoPride.com (@GoPride) May 26, 2021
As anticipated earlier this year, organizers of Chicago’s annual LGBTQ Pride Parade announced that it was likely to be held later in the year to give more people the chance to receive a vaccine and the city extra time to recover.
The Pride Parade and the festival are typically held separately on different dates in June commemorating the anniversary of the Stonewall Uprisings of 1969. The new date – Sunday, October 3 – instead mark the opening weekend of LGBTQ History Month.
“We wanted to have as much time as possible for things to get better because you never know what will come up. It’s also the beginning of gay history month, which I thought was a terrific lead-in to the parade” said coordinator of the 2021 parade Tim Frye.
The Chicago’s LGBTQ Pride Parade this 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.
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
See more: 10 Extraordinary Exhibitions Taking Place In Chicago This Year That You Simply Cannot Miss
[Featured image from Shutterstock]