'Twas a Beautiful Day for a Downtown Parade and the Wearing o' the Green

Nine years ago, Plainfield’s was nothing but a cluster of kids dressed in green pedaling down Lockport Street on trikes and bikes. 

“The first couple of years, the only people who came to see it were the kids’ parents and families,” said village Trustee Paul Fay, master of ceremonies for Sunday's 9th annual parade in downtown Plainfield Sunday. 

This year, the streets were lined with thousands of parade-watchers decked out in leprechaun hats, shamrock antennae headbands and just about every shade of green from olive to lime. Even the canines came in kelly green kerchiefs and emerald green doggie sweaters to watch a lineup of floats, bagpipers and Irish dance teams that lasted more than an hour. 

“Everyone’s Irish today,” one spectator mused to his children, looking out on the crowded downtown scene. 

The parade and celebration picked up a good number of out-of-town spectators when they stopped holding the Chicago South Side Irish Parade a few years ago, Fay said. People from Palos Hills, New Lenox and Naperville were among the crowds lining the streets.  

The St. Patrick’s parade is a family tradition for Plainfield’s Kelly Wegner, of Irish heritage. They used to go to Naperville’s Irish parade, but now prefer the Plainfield celebration. 

“This is the best parade ever,” Wagner said. 

Anita Mulcahy, of Plainfield, used to brave the throngs at the rowdy South Side Irish Parade, but finds the hometown festivities a more accessible alternative. Cuddling her little Pomeranian Toots, who sported a lacy green shamrock ribbon around her neck, Mulcahy said she is happy to stay home to observe the wearing o' the green. 

“It’s a lot quieter – there’s less drinking and it’s more family friendly,” she said. 

But the Plainfield parade was not completely dry. Crowds filled the beer tent outside . Nearby, youngsters jumped in bounce houses and had shamrocks painted on their faces.

Other highlights of the day included a St. Baldrick's fundraiser for children's cancer research, where people had their heads shaved for money, and a free corned beef and cabbage lunch at .

Rachel Lau, 13, in a dazzling green coat, and her friend Jordan Long, in a tall Leprechaun hat, both Plainfield middle-schoolers, came out to walk as part of the Plainfield Public Library parade entry. 

“It’s so much fun to see everyone in their green,” she said.