Annual Spring Road celebration takes place Sat. March 5
By Dee Longfellow
For The Elmhurst Independent
It’s another one for the ages, for it has been 20 years since a group of citizens, mostly merchants of Spring Road, along with police and fire officials from the City as well as then-Mayor Tom Marcucci, gathered at Silverado Restaurant early one morning, long before the steaks start grilling, to consider the first-ever Elmhurst St. Patrick’s Day Parade. It had been on many people’s minds for quite some time, even years for some like the late Doug Kuester who, along with his business partner, owned the window company on Spring Road.
One committee member recalled arguing with Kuester at that first meeting, insisting the parade have porta-potties. Kuester didn’t think they were necessary, that people were welcome to use the restroom in his store. Only two were rented that first year. Imagine that now!
We’ve come a long way baby!
The 20th Annual Elmhurst St. Patrick’s Day Parade can proudly boast having Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner among its entries for at least two years, possible three. His entourage marched in the 2014 parade, when he was only a candidate for Governor. At that parade, Parade Committee Chair Jim O’Connor asked him if he would come back in 2015 were he elected; Rauner replied yes, he would. Once Rauner was elected to the state’s highest office, O’Connor made a great number of follow-up calls and e-mails to get the governor to keep his promise. After much coercing, Rauner returned last year and served as Grand Marshal.
Having the governor of the state of Illinois attend the Elmhurst St. Patrick’s Day Parade didn’t even enter the minds of those committee members back in 1996. They were just trying to get it off the ground in a successful way to that it would have a chance to grow. And grow it has! In the last few years, a record number of spectators have turned out, especially when the temperatures were mild. With the demise of the Southside Irish parade, Elmhurst has become the second largest St. Patrick’s Day event in the metropolitan area, only behind Chicago’s big parade downtown.
This year’s parade steps off at 12 noon on Saturday Mar. 5, starting at the intersection of Wilson Street and Spring Road and continuing north on Spring to the railroad tracks. The year’s Grand Marshal is Elmhurst College.
Sponsors include the following:
Emerald sponsors: City of Elmhurst, Doc Ryan’s, Total Garage Door Solutions, International Contractors Inc., Riley’s Gathering Place, Silverado Grill, Spring Inn and Berkshire Hathaway Realtors.
Platinum sponsors: Elmhurst College Blue Jays and the Spring Road Business Association.
Gold sponsors: Castco Communications, The Larry Roesch Family Auto Group, To the Moon and Back: The Annie Legere Foundation, Dan Gibbons Turkey Trot Foundation and Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare.
Silver sponsors: Ahlgrim Funeral Home, Pazzi di Pizza, DuPage County Board member Sean Noonan, Roberto’s Ristorante, Citizens to Elect Patti Bellock, Chicago Records Management, Inc., Pints in Elmhurst, Elm Sales, Inc., Cantore Enterprises, Aspen Creek Dental, L. W. Reedy Real Estate, Tail Gate, Val-Matic and Chris & Kirsten Healy and family.
So, bundle up the kids, dress in layers for the weather (all in green of course), and come out for a day of music and fun all along Spring Road on Mar. 5. Who knows, you might just find a bit o’ the Irish luck.
