This is one of the country's biggest gay pride parades, attracting close to 300,000 spectactors. Wendy and I used to live on the parade route, but for whatever reason (out of town, work) have never taken part in this spectacle of an event. This was an absolutely perfect Chicago day (75 and sunny) so we were not gonna miss out this year.
After mixing up some to go beverages at the house, Wendy and I hopped on the train to head up there and had to cram our way onto one of the cars because it was so packed with people headed up to the parade.
Once we arrived at the Belmont stop, the spectacle was on. After meeting up with our friend Courtney at the station, we immediately bought some beads, and proceeded to the best possible vantage point as the parade came underway.
The floats started off mildly with a group of mounted policeman, a few politicians, and even Mayor Rahm Emmanual coming through and shaking some hands. Soon, however, things became slightly more risque and each float seemed to carry people (male and female) with less and less clothing and more and more party music. The energy was palpable and we found ourselves being taken by away by the music and the excitement surrounding us. See the video below for an idea of the magnitude of this event (sorry couldn't figure out how to rotate it).
After getting our fill of house music and half-naked dudes on steroids, we headed over to Clark and Addison (caddie-corner to Wrigley Field) to Vines, a great outdoor bar for some drinks and some Cornhole (a game I've come to love almost as much as washers).
Overall, this was a great day to be a Chicagoan. And we were able to cross off yet one more thing on our Chicago Bucket List!
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