[photogallerylink id=85775 align=left]This Sunday the annual Chicago Pride Parade will go as planned, but taking a different route. This is what happens when 750,000 people show up for your party!

Last year the weather was perfect and the people turned out. And turned out. And then more people turned out. It was amazing and scary at the same time. I was at the corner of Belmont and Halsted, which for years was the starting point of the parade. I was up in the Channel 7 booth, looking down on the crowd. It was great to see so many people show up, but as we got closer to the start time of 12 noon, we could see that there were potential dangers with people getting squashed in the crowd. No one was misbehaving. It was just too many people. There was some concern that the parade would leave the neighborhood and move downtown, but that would take away the “home court” feel. So the organizers of the parade worked out a new route that will make it safer, and avoid that “V” shaped route that led to lots of hassles for locals and traffic nightmares. The new starting point will be Montrose Avenue and Broadway. It will still end up at Diversey and Cannon. Check out the attached map and plan your stake-out point. Then bring the family and come have a great day in the neighborhood.

Breakfast With The Beatles will air Sunday morning from 8 till 10 AM. Then I’ll be at the parade again this year at the new starting point with my friends at Channel 7. Janet Davies and I will cover the first hour of the parade. That coverage will air at midnight that night on Channel 7. Then I will go looking for the XRT float. I certainly appreciate the security people from Channel 7 that help me climb onto the float without blowing out my knee. Yeah, one year I ended up in Illinois Masonic’s Emergency Room…after the parade. I’ll be joining Kristin Kay and other XRT friends waving at you, so please wave back. Our new crop of XRT interns will be passing out some cool XRT fans. One of my favorite traditions is having the interns over to my place after the parade. Good chance to get to know the college students that will get us through another busy summer. You can get to know them by checking out their blogs on this website for the next couple of months. The interns are always blown away by the parade. It is an amazing event. We hope to see you there. Just make sure you aren’t standing by yourself at Clark and Halsted. You’ll miss it. Print the map and make some new traditions.

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