Gearing up for its 2025 running, the La Grange Pet Parade organizers began the year by opening registrations for the 79th edition of the oldest and most famous pet parade in Illinois.
This year’s parade will be on Saturday, May 31, and registration forms can be found at its website, lagrangepetparade.org.
“We try to have it open in the new year, right away,” parade coordinator Molly Price said. “It goes through the first Friday of May.”
The parade has a different theme each year, and this year is One Sweet Day, in reference to the candy many participants give to the crowd.
Price wanted marchers to know they should hand out the candy at the curb, instead of throwing it, because it inevitably winds up in the street, creating a dangerous situation for children in the crowd.
Price is part of Pet Parade Charities, the nonprofit that stages the event, and has been on the job since 2017. She stressed the organizers had not set a limit on how many entrants could participate, but estimated the biggest year she could remember was about 120 entrants.
While there isn’t a set criteria for acceptable entrants, they do prefer marchers that will spark the crowd’s interest.
“We do ask that they bring entertainment value,” Price said. “Think about entertaining the crowd. The crowds are there to have fun … anything to get the crowd laughing having fun.”
She said the planning committee enjoys those that bring energy, whether it be by music, a cheer or donning costumes. In last year’s parade, the Keillor family all dressed as cicadas to coincide with the double brood emergence.
This year’s grand marshal and presenting sponsor has not been determined, with the planning committee still working things out in those areas.
The parade began in 1947 as a project of the La Grange Chamber of Commerce, whose president, Ed Breen, owner of Breen’s Cleaners, had the idea to create an event that would feature the village’s children and family pets. The parade grew over the years to include entrees from local businesses, schools, and nonprofits.
Since the 1990s, LTTV from Lyons Township High School has covered the parade. Last year, WGN-TV covered the parade for the first time since the 1970s, when it was a regular feature of the channel.
Over the years, the parade grew to the point where its proceeds went to several pet-related charities, the most prominent being K9 for Veterans. The Plainfield-based charity runs a training camp for service dogs on West Roosevelt Road in Chicago.
K9 for Veterans mission is to train animals to serve former members of the nation’s armed forces that suffer from post traumatic stress disorder.
But that donation isn’t the only expense the charity has; it costs about $80,000 to actually stage the parade, in addition to the village of La Grange’s cost of another $20,000 for employee overtime and police services.
Other nonprofit groups marching in the parade, such as the Jesse White Tumblers, the South Shore Drill Team and the Medinah Shriners Act, also come with a fee, Price said.
“Some are nonprofits themselves and are meant to keep kids off the streets and give them an outlet for performing, so that they’re more occupied,” Price said.
Information about how to donate to Pet Parade Charities, and the different levels of sponsorship, can be found at lagrangepetparade.org.
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
