Feeling Lucky? Enter Our Contest to Win 4 Irish Parade Grandstand Seats

Going to the annual is always fun, but how much more fun would it be to have prime seats in the grandstand with a bird's eye view of the action.

It could be you and your family enjoying those great front-row spots if you enter our Do You Feel Lucky contest, in which the only prerequisite is access to a computer or smart phone and the ability to email your name and phone number to karen@patch.com.

The four tickets will go to one winner and are courtesy of the parade organizers, who thought it would be fun to have regular folks enjoy a perk typically reserved for VIPs, parade co-founder Thomas Ruane said.

This is the 10th year for the parade, which started out with just a few kids riding on bikes and has grown into an hourlong event featuring floats, dancers, bagpipers and, for the first time, a marching band. Providence Catholic High School, fittingly, is joining the lineup.

"This is going to be a much more entertaining parade," Ruane said. "Now we have to pray that the weather's going to be good."

The parade steps off at 1 p.m. at the corner of Commercial and James streets. From there, it heads north down James, east on Lockport Street, south on Illinois Street and west on Commercial Street.

This year, the parade is reinforcing its promise to be a family-oriented event by increasing the "family area by almost 10 fold," Ruane said. There will be multiple inflated "jumpies," face painting, a coloring contest, a balloon artist, and a bike decorating contest and rodeo for the kids, he said.

will be serving complimentary corned beef and cabbage while supplies last, and for adults, there will be a downtown pub crawl, according the parade's Web site, http://plainfieldirishparade.org.

And as has been done in years' past, the St. Baldrick's Foundation fundraiser will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the former fire station No. 1 on Des Plaines Street. Volunteers raise money for childhood cancer research by having their heads shaved. The event is sponsored by the Knights of Columbus Holy Spirit Council.

Ruane said the parade has grown every year, and received an added boost when the South Side Irish Parade ended three years ago over complaints of out-of-control drunken revelers. This year the Chicago event is returning, but Ruane said he doesn't believe it will draw patrons away from , who are coming for a less-crowded, family-oriented event.

It helps, too, that the parade doesn't start until 1 p.m., giving people time to sleep in or go to church in the morning and then enjoy a day of family events in the afternoon, he said.

As for our contest, it's one entry per email address. Send your name and phone number to karen@patch.com. The deadline to enter is 5 p.m. Friday and Ruane will contact the winner.