Puerto Rican parade returning to Humboldt Park this month
CHICAGO - Chicago's annual Puerto Rican parade will return to the streets of Humboldt Park this month, following a year which saw the event celebrated virtually due to the pandemic.
Now in its 43rd year, the Puerto Rican People's Day Parade, which celebrates Puerto Rican culture and heritage, will be held on June 19, according to parade organizers.
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This year's event will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the West Side neighborhood's Crucifixion de Don Pedro mural at North and Artesian avenues, and the 40th anniversary of Juan Antonio Corretjer's poem, "Boricua en la Luna."
Parade Performers in traditional costumes leave the parade route during the Chicago's 41st Annual Puerto Rican Pride Parade in Humboldt Park Chicago, on June 15, 2019. (Jim Vondruska/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The parade will also honor the Chicago Puerto Rican communities response to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers said.
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As in year's past, the event will feature floats, music from local bands, and car, motorcycle and bicycle associations.
Paseo Boricua Gateway West Flag. The flag was created to recognize the hard work many of the Puerto Ricans conducted in the steel mills. They are made of pipes from those factories, and is displayed in the Humboldt Park neighborhood in Chicago, Illin (Raymond Boyd/Getty Images)
"Our parade is more than just a celebration of our rich cultural heritage, it also provides a space to address other social issues like the visibility of our trans people, the vibrancy of our LGBTQ+ community, the dynamics of our youth, the wisdom of our elders, and the challenges of gentrification and other forms of colonial violence," a statement from parade organizers said.
The parade is scheduled to step off at 2 p.m. at Division Street and Western Avenue. It will then proceed west on Division before culminating at Sacramento Avenue.