Members of the Polish American Society of Greater Cincinnati
(PASGC), representing the Polish community of Greater Cincinnati
- attended the Chicago Polish Constitution Day Parade - held this year on
Saturday , May 2, 2009. Columbus Drive in Grant Park near Millennium
Park- next to the shore of Lake Michigan.
The Polish Constitution Day parade - celebrating the first
democratic constitution in Europe and the "world's" second constitution of
peoples rights- Poland - May 3, 1791- is held every year in Chicago.
We were overwhelmed. This was the largest parade I have ever seen
. 132 entries and maybe over 5,000 people in the Parade. It took over 3 hours
for the parade to pass. Extraordinary costumes from centuries of Polish
history and regions of Poland
Many floats and displays were from some of the 800 Polish Language
classes held in Chicago. There are over 20,000 students in the
"required" -on the mostly Saturday morning 4-hour classes- every Saturday.
Marchers included many Polish Language class groups - with
students in groups maybe 300 or more in parade
formation per class.
Others - a float
www.chopinmonument.com, floats
and displays- Boy Scouts, National Guard, Firemen, Polish Military
Veterans, Polish Nurses, Polish Business Men's Association, Polish
Churches, the Polish National Alliance, Jerry White trampoline act, Polish
Dance groups, Polish Flying Club,Polish Yacht Club, Remembrance float of
the Katyn massacre of Polish officers by Russia after WWll
, .... a float - Irene Sendler - heroine for saving over
2,500 Jewish children from sure death, Political candidates,
bicycles, Polish Sheep dogs, hundreds of
motorcyclists, General Casimir Pulaski (1748-1817),
Thaddeus Koscuiszko (1746-1817),
a float honoring Pope John Paul ll, and much - much more . Float
after float after float and thousands of marchers in costume or red and white
colors. ...
It was an amazing experience.
Yes, Poland lives.
The Nazis in Germany, and Stalin in Russia ,
and over the centuries - the Swedes from the North and the Tartars from
the East - have tried to destroy the people of the heart of Europe -
Poland - over and over again. The Polish people through their
strength have survived. My God, I am proud to be Polish - yes we
have survived and we are thriving around the world.
This Parade is a grand show of proof. Thank God for Poland
. God Bless America.
At the Parade - We picked a place to watch across from the
Grandstand.
Michelle , I , and Emerson hung our beautiful PASGC
Cincinnati banner ( we had the only
sign/banner along the entire 3 mile route on the guard rails) -
Polish American Society of Greater Cincinnati- made by our Ron Dzikowski
. Many parade participants spotted our sign and waved and said hello- we
were only a few feet from the parade. The most noticeable people that
acknowledged us from the parade were - as the lead group of the
parade - all the politicians marched - Mayor Richard M. Daley waived hello
and yelled thanks for our support and also Roland Burris,
Senator from Illinois , made a special effort to say "Welcome" to
Chicago to us. Photographers from Polish news media were on hand for the
parade.
Many people took pictures of our PASGC sign.
Also, the Director of the Polish Museum of America- yelled down from the
top of his float - "welcome" to us.
Among the parade viewers we met a doctor and his wife visiting from Warsaw
as well as many locals from Chicago and visitors from nearby
States. About 250,000 people watched the parade.
This was a major parade in Chicago, but I noticed that the
Chicago Tribune the next day had little coverage. Chicago is a very
diverse City
The local TV news in Chicago showed about 30 second clip of the parade on
TV that night.
We had dinner at one of the 2 "Red Apple" restaurants for Polish food -
just great.
We stayed at the historical Palmer House - at discounted rates- right
downtown.
Weather was just great - we all got a touch of sunburn.
Just a beautiful day - following 7 days of rain in Chicago.
Following the parade , we attended the concert by the famous Polish rock
star - Mandaryna-
at "Poland on the Pier" at the Navy Pier amusement park
,nearby.
We visited the Polish Museum of America on Sunday. This museum has
irreplaceable Polish artifacts from
centuries of Polish history.