I was a little surprised, but then not really surprised at this news. If you checked out the poll results and comments on the Sun-Times article, I'm guessing that most who oppose cancelling the parade are NOT from the neighborhood. I know a lot of people who live within a few blocks of Western who leave for the day. We live far enough from the route that we don't have a lot of problems with the drunks. The parade has a major impact on lots of businesses in the neighborhood. Of those within a mile of the parade that are usually open on Sundays, most non-bars close on parade day. I'm that some business lose $$ because of it, so I wouldn't be surprised if that was a factor.
A friend on 111th speculates that lots of drunks will show up and make the rounds of bars on Western anyway. She said that there were already drunks peeing on the side of her house at 11:00 a.m. - BEFORE the parade started. Sheesh!
I'll be curious to see what they plan next year. My guess would be that any parade would be small and kid-oriented. They'll probably continue the Irish film fest and have some concerts. That's not a bad thing. The parade itself is still fun, but the drunkfest has gotten a bit out of hand.
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