Shared from the Beverly-MtGreenwood, IL Patch
Wee Folks To Western: A History Of The South Side Irish Parade
Members of the Coakley family remember how a march around the block in 1979 turned into the South Side's favorite tradition.
By Tim Moran, Patch Staff | | Updated
CHICAGO, IL - Sunday's march of floats along Western Avenue, from 103rd to 115th in Beverly/Morgan Park, will be the 40th South Side Irish Parade. Most remember the parade took a break from tradition for two years earlier this decade, but one of the founders of the parade says it was "never interrupted."
"We got the permit and marched down the sidewalk for pretty much the whole route," said Marianne Coakley, one of the parents of the "Wee Folks of Washtenaw and Talman," who founded the parade in 1979. On what would have been Parade Day in 2010 and 2011, she and many of the originals walked down the sidewalk with the buggy on the east side of Western.
"We were never interrupted. This (2018) is the 40th parade," she said.
The story of the origin of the South Side Irish Parade is one that's been told many times. A few St. Cajetan families organized a march around the block, taking the sidewalks down the east side of Washtenaw, around the corner on 109th Street and on the west side of Talman before returning to Washtenaw on St. Patrick's Day in 1979.
But the story is one that can't be told too often, especially come March. Marianne and her son, Pat Coakley (one of the Wee Folks) are living parade encyclopedias, having been part of the small group that will make their 40th appearance at the South Side's greatest tradition this weekend.
The roots of the South Side Irish Parade date back to another part of Chicago lore — the blizzard of 1979, which crippled the city for a few days and had city leaders scratching their heads when it came to where to put all the snow.
"We were all in the Hendrys' (another Washtenaw family credited as co-founders of the parade) basement during the blizzard," Marianne remembers. "We were teaching the kids some Irish dances and thought about what we might do for St. Patrick's Day."
At the time, the South Side did not have a parade. The "Southtown Parade" that had went down 79th Street for years was moved in 1960 by then-Mayor Richard J. Daley to become the downtown parade, leaving the South Side without an official celebration.
"So we had the theme, 'Bring Back St. Pat's,'" Marianne said. "We wanted to pay tribute to the Southtown parade."
So the Coakleys and the Hendrys were joined by other families on Washtenaw and Talman like the Hayes' and the Hughes' in planning a march around the block with buggies and posters.
"There were maybe 25 or 30 of us kids, parents and grandparents," Pat, who was 7 years old at the time, remembers. "We went around the block a couple times. I remember the Southtown Economist (newspaper) coming out to take a photo, but we really didn't think much of it. It was just something we did for fun that day."
Marianne remembers putting a brief note in their neighbors' mailboxes telling them of their plans for the day.
"And that was going to be it," she said. "This certainly wasn't going to become a real parade. Never in a million years did we think this would go beyond one year."
"We thought that would be the end of it… just a fun little day with our families and neighbors," Pat added.
Now, nearly 40 years later, "Parade Day" needs no further explanation in this neighborhood.
The original buggy used to transport the Wee Folk in the 1979 parade was owned by the Hendrys, according to Marianne. But they threw it out a few weeks later.
"Why would they keep it? We weren't going to do this again," she said, noting that they would use the Coakley's buggy for the Wee Folk the next year and that that very buggy has been in every single South Side Irish Parade since.
By 1980, the parade had partially developed and the number of participants grew from the tens to somewhere in the hundreds. It moved to Kennedy Park and received a bit more hype before the event — much more than Marianne expected.
"We marched around the streets near Kennedy Park and when we got to the park, I couldn't believe it. I asked my husband (the late Pat Coakley, another parade founder) 'What are we going to do with all these people?'"
"It was the biggest parade surprise ever," she added. "I was dumbfounded at how many people were in the park."
It was so popular that year that Pat Coakley Sr. and George Hendry came up with a wild idea to do something even larger the following March.
"For God's sake, we can't take a parade down Western Avenue," Marianne remembers saying at the time.
So in 1981, the parade made its way to Western Avenue — its home ever since. It followed the route it still follows today, from 103rd to Kennedy Park, but hadn't come close to becoming what it became in later years.
"We didn't have police protection and had to stay in the southbound lanes," Marianne said of the parade's Western Avenue debut. "The northbound lanes were open to traffic. The southbound traffic was us."
A political rift between then-Mayor Jane Byrne and the 19th Ward alderman at the time may have played a role in the lack of police protection and decision to keep half the street open to traffic in 1981, Marianne said.
"Jane Byrne wasn't too popular in the 19th Ward and I think she may have thought that this was an event put on by the ward and not by us families."
While permits were still granted for the 1981 event, Marianne said that Byrne came around to fully supporting the event by the following year after she got on the phone with Marianne's husband and Mr. Hendry.
"It was never about politics… it has always been about families," Marianne said. "You'll see families in the parade to this day marching behind posters or in cute little trolleys. The McGanns, the Hennessys, the Gainers. So many more. It's about getting together and spending time with your family."
That doesn't mean the large crowds haven't drawn a politician or two over the years. Former Mayor Richard M. Daley was a frequent face in the parade until his family decided that Sunday was "a family day" and that they would no longer attend. Both Bill and Hillary Clinton were in the 1992 parade when Bill was seeking the presidency, and Barack Obama was a parade spectator as a United States Senator in 2005.
But politicians have left a far smaller mark on the parade compared to another group: the marching bands.
And it took awhile for them to come around too.
The first bands to march in the parade came in 1981, but there were only two that year.
"We had St. Rita and Marist," the latter of which Marianne described as "the crema dela crema."
"It was about 82 degrees that day," she said of the 1981 parade, noting that temperatures have risen to the 80s a handful of times on parade day over the past four decades.
By 1983, the parade had grown to what Pat described as "an immense crowd." It was also the year the parade saw a significant increase in the number of bands.
A 1983 parade poster (The Coakleys have kept physical posters that include photos and memorabilia from every single parade) shows the theme that year was "Callin' of the Clans to the Marchin' of the Bands."
"We wanted to draw more bands," Marianne said. "And it worked."
Nearly 10 showed up. That number is now consistently more than 20 and sometimes up to 40.
"The bands would sell buttons that said 'South Side Irish Parade' and have fundraisers to raise money for the buses that would get them there," Marianne said.
With the bands came more family floats and organizations jumping at the chance to be a part of the event that became penciled in every year as the only thing to do on the last Sunday before St. Patrick's Day. Crowds went from the hundreds to the thousands. Growing every year, the parade hit peak numbers by the late 1990s and throughout the 2000s.
Families were crushed when it was announced a few weeks after the 2009 version that the parade was history. A warm day that year, coupled with thousands of party-goers having been bused in from areas far from the South Side of Chicago, contributed to things getting out of hand.
But after two years of sadness, we were given another chance. It was announced in 2011 that the parade would return in its true form the following year. We were thrilled but knew things had to be perfect or else this comeback would be a one-time thing.
Tradition Marches On
And in 2012, things went great.
On March 11, 2012, all was right again on the South Side. A beautiful 60-degree day complimented an event that returned to its genuine roots. Thanks to a "zero tolerance" edict, the parade was once again about families. Locals could get a first-row view from Western since the crowd had significantly decreased in bulk from three years earlier.
The new and improved parade now also includes a one-mile "Emerald Isle Mile" race, a South Side Irish Parade Film Festival earlier in the month and a February fundraiser to get the momentum started.
Marianne and Pat are among a small group of people who have been to every single parade, although Pat says most of the Wee Folk have made it back every year.
From its modest beginnings at 109th and Washtenaw to becoming an institution, here's to 40 years.
"I love the days leading up to it," Pat, who moved one parish over to St. Barnabas in his adult years, says. "It's a big deal. Like how people say 'Merry Christmas' or 'Happy Easter.' Around here it's 'Happy Parade Day, or 'have a great Parade Day.'"
"It has become a phenomenon."
Did you know?
- The first South Side Irish Parade occurred on March 17 1979. That's the only time in its 40-year history the parade occurred on the actual St. Patrick's Day holiday. "No matter what, it's always the Sunday before St. Patrick's Day," Marianne said.
- Three-fourths of the families who founded the parade still own the homes they lived in back in 1979. The Coakley, Hendry and Hayes families still live on Washtenaw and Talman, while the Hughes have moved one neighborhood over to Mount Greenwood.
- The parade's first Grand Marshal, in 1981, was three neighborhood kids including Annie Coakley, Marianne's daughter. The parade has ever since selected a worthy Grand Marshal. This year it's Special Olympics Chicago.
- A St. Joseph's Day parade began in similar fashion by neighborhood Polish residents around 110th and Artesian in the early 1980s. That neighborhood parade only lasted a few years.
- The Coakley family has made a poster collage for every single parade since 1979. They are proudly kept in the home where it all began 39 years ago.
- Every year since 1981, St. Cajetan has held a special mass on Parade Day.
- A common post-parade meeting place was Mike's Western Pump, the bar at the spot that's now home to O'Rourke's Office. Many parade fundraisers have been held there, Marianne said.
- An "Images of America" book is dedicated to the parade's history. Pick it up at Bookie's or a local library.
If You Go
- When: The parade starts at noon on Sunday, March 11
- Where: Western Avenue in Chicago's Beverly neighborhood. The parade will begin at 103rd Street and will run all the way to 115th Street.
All photos provided and used with permission
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