Chicago Columbus Day Parade

The Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans has organized Chicago’s Columbus Day Parade since 1952, and the 2026 edition is the 74th. According to the organizer, opening ceremonies begin at noon on Monday, October 12, 2026, and the parade runs south on Dearborn Street from Wacker Drive to Van Buren Street. The organizer says the route was moved off State Street because of road construction. Floats, high school and community marching bands, Italian regional clubs and civic groups make up the lineup, and ABC7 broadcasts it live.

The day starts earlier on the Near West Side. Per the organizer, a 9 a.m. Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii, 1224 W. Lexington St., is followed by a wreath-laying at Arrigo Park in Little Italy before the parade. A reception on Rush Street follows the parade.

The parade is free to watch. Columbus Day remains a debated holiday in Chicago, and the parade has drawn small protests in past years; the parade itself is a family event with a heavy showing of school bands.

Plan your visit

Every L line stops within two blocks of Dearborn in the Loop: Clark/Lake and Washington on the Blue Line, Lake and Monroe on the Red Line, and State/Lake or Washington/Wells on the Loop L lines. Dearborn closes from Wacker to Van Buren from late morning, and cross streets close as the parade passes, so drivers should stay out of the Loop core until mid-afternoon. It is a federal holiday but a workday for most of the Loop, so lunch-hour sidewalks near Dearborn and Madison get crowded; the blocks south of Jackson are looser. Bring a chair if you want to sit, and a jacket, since Dearborn is a wind tunnel in October.