Polish Constitution Day Parade

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

3 May Day Parade in Chicago (1985)

The Polish Constitution Day Parade in Chicago is the largest Polish parade oustside of Poland^[1], and celebrates the anniversary of the ratification of the Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791, the second democratic constitution in the World (after the United States), and the first in Europe.

For 115 years Polonia's various community organizations have come together to organize this traditional Chicago salute to pride and tradition. Every year the parade is organized on Saturday the closets the third day of May. From many years the main organizer of the Parade is Association of Polish Clubs, under the leadership of which the Grand Marshall and Queen of the Parade are elected. Organizers allocate than places in the marching column to all participants (like organizations, schools, bands, folk dancing groups).

The very first Parade had place in 1892 in Humboldt Park which - at the time - was located in the heart of Polish Downtown. After World War II the parade was moved to downtown, first to State Street, then to Dearborn Street, and finally - from 2003 - to Grant Park. Every year the Parade starts from the location of Buckingham Fountain and ends by the bridge over the Chicago River.

Chicago's Polonia, the largest Polish community outside Warsaw proudly participate in the Parade in Chicago downtown. In the last Parade of 2006, 144 marching groups participated counting - according to various sources - from 60 to 140 thousand people.

The Polish Constitution Day Parade is also available on-demand at Parade filmed by local TV channel.