Columbus Day Parade turns State Street red, white and green

Dozens of floats and thousands of people, many of them Italian Americans from around the Chicago area, descended upon the Loop on Monday for the annual Columbus Day Parade.

The floats, decorated with gleaming banners, flowers and tinsel in the color of the Italian flag, represented community groups and local businesses celebrating their roots. In between them, marching bands and dance groups pumped the crowd up with music and high-energy routines.

“Bless the immigrants who came before us, and bless those who still come, seeking hope and freedom and home for their families,” said the Rev. Richard Fragomeni of the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii in Little Italy in a prayer before the parade.

“May this celebration remind us that we are one people, stronger together, proud of our heritage, united in faith and friendship and love of this great city of Chicago,” he continued.

The community leaders held court at State Street and Wacker Drive before leading the parade south down State Street, to the applause and cheers of spectators who lined the street.

Columbus Day has long been a symbol of Italian American pride and heritage under the name of Christopher Columbus, the Italian navigator who sailed to the Americas in 1492.

Chicago has celebrated the city’s Italian American community since 1952, according to the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans, which organized the parade.

“Our Irish friends can have the river dyed green,” said Mario Bartoli, the consul general of Italy in Chicago. “We can have the whole city in red, green and white today.”