Chicago is gearing up for the holiday season, starting with Thanksgiving on Thursday. The annual State Street Thanksgiving Parade that morning is an obvious choice for Chicagoans looking to celebrate in a big way, however, many smaller neighborhood functions are scheduled with just as much heart as the larger parade - and no street-closing floats.
In the Third Ward, Ald. Dorothy Tillman is organizing the 17th annual Tree Lighting ceremony today at 4 p.m. The ceremony also serves as a tribute to the late Mayor Harold Washington, who died of a heart attack days before the first ceremony was to take place.
"Harold said he wanted to have a simultaneous tree-lighting ceremony in the 'hood at the same time he lit the tree at Daley Plaza," said Tillman. "That was how the ceremony started."
The tree was lit in tribute to Washington for the first four years -- over 1,000 showed up the first year in a show of solidarity for the former Chicago mayor. Tillman said at one point, a younger person showed up at the ceremony asking who Harold Washington was. After that incident she decided to make children an integral part of the ceremony.
"I knew we had to begin again to make sure the children didn't forget Harold," she said. "It's important that as a community we celebrate our heroes so that we don't forget what they've done."
A student essay contest was incorporated into the ceremony. All public and private school students in the Third Ward are invited to participate and winners are given $50 savings bonds. Even the tree-lighting part of the evening has become child-centered, choosing a child to light the tree every year while different high school bands provide music.
Ophelia Daugherty, 72, says the children's participation in the event is what makes her the happiest. Daugherty, who also sings Silent Night during the ceremony every year as the tree is lit, says her four grandchildren have also attended the tree-lighting ceremony over the years.
"It brings so much happiness back to the 47th street neighborhood," Daugherty said.
The holiday spirit of fellowship will also be present at the West Garfield community's Thanksgiving Feast on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The Rev. Dr. Marshall Hatch Sr., of the New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, helped organize the event four years ago, and says it has evolved from a food handout to an event for anyone in the neighborhood, regardless of need, who has nowhere to go on Thanksgiving.
"Our goal is the spirit of the village in the heart of the city," Rev. Hatch said.
Illustrating those sentiments are the dozens of church members who will be cooking and serving homemade meals for those in the neighborhood that want to come. The minister has eaten his Thanksgiving dinners there for the last four years and says that anyone who wants to come should be prepared to have as much turkey, sweet potatoes, corn, dressing, and peach cobbler as they can handle.
"It's a family setting for everyone," he said. "That's the important thing to know."
The village theme is also present in Dolton, where the small suburb's residents will hold their annual Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
Dolton's ceremony, which is over 60 years old, will feature entertainment from the village's dance teams, Christmas carols from the New Zion Ensemble, and Santa Claus.
"Our mayor is very Christmas-oriented," said Sean Howard, spokesman for Dolton Mayor William Shaw. "It's his favorite time of year. His family and grandchildren are there and it's like one big family reunion for Dolton."
And, for those who cherish tradition, the State Street Thanksgiving Parade will make its way down State Street for the 71st time. Over 300,000 people usually line the streets -- some even earlier than the 8:30 a.m. start time to get a good spot -- and the event is televised to an estimated 1.7 million people nationwide.
Spokeswoman Bonni Pear reminds parade-watchers that downtown lots will be open for those who need to park but that State Street and many of the cross streets from Roosevelt to Randolph will be closed that morning.
"It is the official start to the holiday season in Chicago," Pear said.
The following is the contact information for the various parades:
Harold Washington Tree Lighting Ceremony, (773) 373-3228.
West Garfield Thanksgiving Feast, (773) 287-5051.
Dolton Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony, (708) 935-0470.
The State Street Thanksgiving Parade, www.chicagofestivals.org.
Article copyright REAL TIMES Inc.
Photograph (Harold Washington)
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