CHICAGO — It is still summer, but on Saturday, Chicago’s best-known back-to-school event hit the streets.
The highly anticipated Bud Billiken Parade parade, which celebrates African American culture, brought Chicago’s best marching bands, energetic dancers and thousands of spectators to the South Side.
The dozens of floats, music, dance, food and fun united the community, while also pumping students up to head back to school.
Known as one of the largest and longest-running parades in the country, the Bud Billiken Parade is a tradition now 95 years strong, keeping the African-American community connected and uplifted.
“It’s fun when, like, it’s not violence on the street and we all can be together. I just love when we’re all together,” paradegoer Janiyah Stockdale said.
For attendee Rochelle Harper, who brought her granddaughter for the first time, the parade brings back fond memories.
“Me, my little brothers, my grandmother used to bring us because they had a friend that stayed along 39th street and we just used to sit on their porch and watch all of the nice little organizations go by,” Harper said.
The Bud Billiken Parade debuted in 1929 to honor the hard work of newsboys who sold the Chicago Defender, an African American newspaper founded in 1905.
Without a doubt, the Parade continues to focus on Chicago’s youth, who are getting ready to head back to school in just a few weeks.
“I mean the Bud Billiken Parade is classic. 95 years is so strong, its always been the great event before school starts and so we’re just excited to be part of it,” CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said.
Thankfully, there are still a few weeks to get some in the crowd excited about getting back to class.
The community was also invited to enjoy the Bud Billiken Back-to-School Festival in Washington Park where free haircuts, hairstyles and school supplies were offered.
CPS students are set to return to class on August 26th.