Overview

• The Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans staged its 73rd annual parade on State Street with nearly 200 floats, bands and community groups.
• The procession stepped off at Wacker Drive and moved south to Van Buren Street as thousands of spectators lined the route.
• The day began with a mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii and a wreath-laying at Arrigo Park honoring Italian American war veterans.
• JCCIA President Ron Onesti pressed for the return of the Grant Park Christopher Columbus statue, which has remained removed and the platform fenced since 2020.
• President Donald Trump issued a proclamation last week praising Columbus as a “visionary,” while Mayor Brandon Johnson marked Indigenous Peoples' Day in a message on X.