2016 Chicago Pride Parade line of march released

Chicago, IL - The organizers of the 47th annual Chicago Pride Parade, have released the parade line-up, which includes 160 entries featuring colorful floats, decorated vehicles, marching bands and walking contingents representing community businesses, organizations, elected governmental officials and individuals.

The parade will kick-off with a tribute to the 49 killed in Orlando LGBT bar Pulse, sponsored by Windy City Times and ChicagoPride.com. Followed by the color guard headed up by the "Scouts For Equality" who will be carrying several flags including United States, State of Illinois, Cook County, City of Chicago, rainbow Pride flags and the State of Florida in honor of the Orlando victims. The group is made up of Scouts and their supportive families and friends. 

The Grand Marshal for this year's parade is "Chicago Fire" star Monica Raymund.

When the 2016 parade steps off at noon on Sunday, June 26, there will be 55 less entries, down from 215 that participated in 2015. Reducing the total to 160 entries should reduce the overall length of the parade by 30 or 45 minutes, said PRIDEChicago coordinator Richard Pfeiffer.

Even before concerns over the Orlando tragedy, parade organizers announced a plan to increase the security presence along the 21-block parade route, nearly doubling the number of off-duty police officers from 90 last year to 160 this year.

At a news conference last week, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson announced there will be an increased presence of uniformed police officers, including officers on bike, civilian-dressed officers throughout the event and specially trained canines. Johnson stressed there is no evidence of a threat against the LGBT community in Chicago.

Like last year, a zero-tolerance policy for drinking along the parade route will be enforced with checkpoints along the route and could result in fines up to $1,000 for open containers.

"If people come to the parade with open bottles of alcohol, they are stopped," Pfeiffer told ChicagoPride.com. "That will be done again, and that's true of every parade (in Chicago), not unique to (just) the Pride Parade."

The parade, which is expected to draw over 1 million people, will begin at Broadway and Montrose in the Uptown neighborhood. The parade will then travel south on Broadway; then south on Halsted; then east on Belmont; then south on Broadway; then east on Diversey to Cannon Drive.

Chicago's annual Pride Parade is the culmination of June Pride Month and is organized by PRIDEChicago under the direction of Pfeiffer. (www.chicagopridecalendar.org) 

2016 Line of March 

1 Intro—Banner/Orlando Photos ( a tribute to the 49 killed in Orlando LGBT bar Pulse, sponsored by Windy City Times and ChicagoPride.com )/Color Guard ( Scouts for Equality )/Grand Marshal Monica Raymund with Clandestina — cars/walkers

2 Friends of the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame - float/car/walkers

3 Puerto Rican Cultural Center — Vida/SIDA — float/walkers

4 La Casa Norte w/Bank of America LGBT Pride Chicago group — trolley/walkers

5 Nettelhorst School — golf cart/walkers

6 Chicago Waldorf School — bus/walkers

7 Near North Montessori School — bus/walkers

8 Erie Family Health Center - walkers

9 American Veterans for Equal Rights/Jesse Brown VA Medical Center —car/walkers

10 Gay, Lesbian and Supporting Sailors ( G.L.A.S.S. ) — walkers

11 Lakeside Pride Music Ensembles — band w/van

12 Lesbian Gay Police Association/GOAL Chicago-float & police superintendent rep - car

13 Folia Brasil — walkers

14 Entry lines up on Sheridan: Organized Chaos Chicago — motorcycles w/Jeep

15 Elected Officials and candidates for elective office — walkers

16 Entry lines up on Sheridan: Bikes and Mics - motorcycles

17 ABC7 Chicago — float

18 Chicago Teachers Union, Local 1 — float/walkers

19 Chicago Black Gay Men's Caucus — car/walkers

20 Equality Illinois/Coca Cola Company — float/walkers

21 Uber Technologies — float/walkers

22 Trevor Project - walkers

23 Angles Pride Youth Program ( formerly LINKS ) — walkers

24 City Colleges of Chicago — float/walkers

25 Lambda Legal & Salesforce — float/walkers

26 UCAN — truck/walkers

27 Balloons by Tommy, LLC — bus/walkers

28 BP Products North America ( Pride Business Resource Group ) — bus/walkers

29 Chicago Gender Society & ChiChapter — float

30 Heels & Hardhats Contracting & Chicago Area Construction Trade Unions - truck

31 Chicago Gay Hockey Association — SUV/walkers

32 Chicago Dragons Rugby Football Team — walkers

33 Center on Halsted — float/walkers

34 AARP — trolley

35 Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce — float/walkers

36 MB Financial Bank — trolley/walkers

37 LGBT Chamber of Commerce of IL — trolley

38 Paws Chicago — float/walkers

39 Windy City Cowboys — pickup truck/walkers

40 Hyatt Hotels Corporation ( HyPride Business Resource Group ) — float/walkers

41 R.O.T.C. ( Righteously OUTrageous Twirling Corps ) — pickup truck/walkers

42 Comcast Cable Communication ( Out Chicago ) & NBC Universal — double decker bus/walkers

43 Telemundo Chicago — float/walkers

44 Chicago Spirit Brigade with Youth Outlook — SUV/walkers

45 Howard Brown Health, Chicago House, TPAN/Ride for AIDS/Affinity Community Services — float/walkers

46 PFLAG Council of Northern Illinois; Johnson & Johnson — trailer/walkers

47 Navigant ( LGBTA employee resource group ) — float/walkers

48 Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center — trolley/walkers

49 Sidetrack — float/walkers

50 AIDS Healthcare Foundation/South Side Help Center — bus/walkers

51 WGN Television — float/walkers

52 WGN Radio with Jewel Foods — float/walkers

53 Asians & Friends Chicago — float/walkers

54 LEAGUE at AT&T Chicago Chapter — float/walkers

55 Univision Chicago — float/walkers

56 Chicago Coalition of Welcoming Churches — van/walkers

57 Unity in Chicago — trolley/walkers

58 Episcopal Diocese of Chicago — vehicle/walkers

59 Dignity/Chicago — Jeep/walkers

60 A Church 4 Me MCC — flatbed/walkers

61 Congregation Or Chadash & Am Kesaet of Temple Sholom - float/walkers

62 Beth Hillel Congregation Bnai Emunah — SUV/walkers

63 Anti-Defamation League & Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest ( Consulate of Israel ) — float/walkers

64 Elmhurst College — van/walkers

65 Nike ( LGBT & Friends Employee Network ) & OutSports ( Be True Out Sports )-walkers

66 Athletic Alliance of Chicago — float/walkers

67 Chicago Smelts Swim Team — float/walkers

68 Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association — float

69 Grab Magazine — float

70 Human Rights Campaign — vehicle/walkers

71 Wells Fargo & Co ( Pride Chicago Team ) & Chicago Gay Men's Chorus-float/walkers

72 Chicago Boyz — double decker bus

73 Robert Jeffrey Hair Studio — float

74 Chicago Cubs — float

75 OUT CHICAGO/@ Properties — float/walkers

76 KPMG LLP ( pride@kpmg ) — trolley/walkers

77 PepsiCo ( EQUAL ) — double decker bus

78 Roscoe's Tavern — flatbed

79 Chicago Fire Soccer Club & Section 8 Chicago NFP — firetruck/walkers

80 Ruth M. Rothstein CORE Center — float

81 BMO Harris Bank ( LGBT Employee Group ) & Chicago Bulls — float/walkers

82 Rush Pride/Rush University — float/walkers

83 Presence Saint Joseph Hospital — trolley

84 Alcala's Western Wear/Bisexual Queer Alliance Chicago — float/walkers

85 Chicago Northside Toyota — trolley

86 Orbitz — Jeep/walkers

87 National Gay Pilots Association — flatbed/walkers

88 PRIDE EBRG American Airlines — golf cart mini plane/walkers

89 Boeing Company ( BEAGLES Chicago ) — pickup truck/walkers

90 United Airlines ( EQUAL ) — truck/walkers

91 Rainbow Special Interest Group of Chicago Area Mensa — vehicle/walkers

92 WXRT ( 93XRT ) & Four Seasons Heating & Cooling — float/walkers

93 Trojan — float/walkers

94 LA Tan — float/walkers

95 Lurie Children's Hospital — walkers

96 Flaggots Ohio — SUV/walkers

97 WCIU, The U — double decker bus

98 I Heart Media-WKSC 103.5 KISS FM & Redd's Apple Ale — float

99 Purdue University LGBTQ+ Student Alliance - walkers

100 Chicago Leather Pride — truck/walkers

101 Foreskin Pride — SUV/walkers

102 Hell in a Handbag Productions — flatbed/walkers

103 Phoenix Bar & Nightclub — float

104 DePaul University — walkers

105 Gay Liberation Network — pickup truck/walkers

106 Chicago NOW — car/walkers

107 About Face Theatre - walkers

108 Fox 32 Chicago — float/walkers

109 Thousand Waves Martial Arts & Self Defense Center NFP — walkers

110 Fantasy Nightclub — float/walkers

111 Stages Music Hall aka Smart Bar — float/walkers

112 SEIU Illinois Council — float

113 Civis Analytics — walkers

114 Broadway In Chicago — float/walkers

115 McGrath Lexus of Chicago — float/walkers

116 Mercy for Animals — SUV/walkers

117 Local 881 United Food and Commercial Workers — float/walkers

118 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois — float/walkers

119 Accenture and Avanade ( LGBT groups ) — double decker bus/walkers

120 Astellas US LLC — float/walkers

121 Northrop Grumman Corp ( Pride in Diversity Alliance [PrIDA] )—trolley/walkers

122 United Way of Metropolitan Chicago — float/walkers

123 Walgreens — pickup truck/walkers

124 Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. ( Take Pride ) — float/walkers

125 Aon Plc/Aon Service Corporation - walkers

126 Thresholds — float/walkers

127 LinkedIn ( Out@in ) — SUV/walkers

128 UNITEHERE Local 1 — float/walkers

129 Lakeshore Recycling Systems — truck/walkers

130 FCB Chicago — float/walkers

131 Baxter Healthcare Corporation ( Baxter Equality Network ) — trolley/walkers

132 ReMarked Salon/Concept Effects - trolley

133 JPMorgan Chase ( Pride Chicago ) — float/walkers

134 Lakeshore Beverage — car/walkers

135 Sears Holding Corporation ( PRIDE ) — float/walkers

136 Starbucks ( Pride Alliance ) — Range Rover/walkers

137 Allstate Insurance Co. ( PRIDE Employee Resource Group ) — float/walkers

138 Gerber Collision & Glass — van/walkers

139 Deloitte LLP ( Deloitte Chicago Inclusion Council ) — float/walkers

140 Siemens Corporation ( Siemens Pride ) — trolley/walkers

141 Mars "Pride" Team — float/walkers

142 Discover Financial Services — trolley/walkers

143 Chicago Athletic Clubs — float/walkers

144 Bloomingdale's - walkers

145 Thompson Chicago hotel — float/walkers

146 Chicago Apartment Finders Leasing Division of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage—car/walkers

147 Tyson Foods, Inc. ( Tyson Pride Network ) — extended float/walkers

148 Marriott International ( ONE ) - walkers

149 Groupon — float/walkers

150 Tesla Motors — car/walkers

151 JLL — float/walkers

152 TD Ameritrade — pickup truck/walkers

153 Tree House Humane Society and Heal Veterinary Clinic — float/walkers

154 Gap Inc. ( Gap GEAR-Gay Employee, Allies & Resources ) - walkers

155 CME Group, Inc. ( PRIDE ) — float/walkers

156 W.W. Grainger, Inc. ( Equality Alliance Business Resource Group ) — SUV/walkers

157 Fitness Formula Clubs — flatbed/walkers

158 Constellation Brands — double decker bus

159 Pandora Internet Radio — Chicago Office ( Chicago Pride ) — truck/walkers

160 ComEd — Bucket truck/walkers