Pride Parade Attendance in Chicago 1985-2014

In 2013 and 2014, an estimated amount of one million prideful souls attended the Pride Parade in Chicago.

A bar graph of the Chicago Pride Parade Attendance 1985-2014.
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The Pride Parade started in Chicago, June 1970 to honor and celebrate Chicago’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning or queer (LGBTQ) community. The Pride Parade has evolved significantly over the years. What started as a protest and meeting in Lincoln Park has turned into a two-day festival with stages of music, exhibitors, food and drinks. The festival takes place the weekend before the parade which is on the last weekend of June each year in memory of the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

Pride Parade takes place over a four-mile route. The parade kicks off at Montrose Ave. in Uptown and ends near Diversey Parkway and Sheridan Rd. in Lincoln Park. In 2013 and 2014, the parade had approximately one million attendees, the most parade goers in Chicago Pride Parade history.

Practice Story

Gov. Pat Quinn talks about MAP grants at DePaul University. (Photo by Josclynn Brandon)

Editor’s note: This story was originally posted on Dec. 12, 2012 and is housed at RedLineProject.org

By Bob Smith

Gov. Pat Quinn visited DePaul University’s Loop campus on Wednesday to discuss how pension reform is harming the Monetary Award Program (MAP) college scholarships and access to higher education in Illinois.

“This is so important to our state, not only in the past, but certainly now and in the future,” Quinn said.
“We want everyone to have the opportunity to go to college that has the ability to go to college.”

MAP grants are need-based college scholarships that allow merit students who are in need across the state and do not need to be repaid by the student. Quinn said that due to cutbacks and having to pay more money in the pension amount, almost 18,000 students lost their MAP grant scholarships this year.