Saturday Mar. 14 was of course, the Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade, where people from all across the state gather around and celebrate all around Chicago, and this will no longer be taking place because of the Coronavirus pandemic. 

Each year Chicago hosts a St.Patrick’s day parade where tens of thousands of people come to the city and watch as the river is dyed green. It is a very big deal in Chicago, and they even bring in Irish icons like Conor McGregor to lead the parade. There is a king and queen selected and people fill the streets with their green clothing to celebrate. Many kids all across the Chicagoland suburbs look forward to celebrating with their friends and families, so the news hit them pretty hard.

“I was very bummed out, I was looking forward to doing this for a while and now I have to sit home all day. I was going to go down to Chicago with my family and friends and make a day out of it.” said Bach, an annual attender of this parade. “Get some dinner, go to the parade, and also see the green river and eat corn beef, lots of corn beef.” he added.

There have been many cases across the country and state, so mayor Lori Lightfoot made the difficult decision of cancelling the event. COVID-19 has taken many people, and the risk is just too great at the pandemic’s current state. It would be a huge risk to allow all of those people to be together at once, and the mayor kept that in mind.  “Mayor Lori Lightfoot canceled the city’s massive St. Patrick’s Day parades for this weekend because of fears the disease would spread through the dense crowds.” said the Chicago Tribune. 

This decision was made last minute, showing the difficulty behind it. Many felt it was necessary for it to be made to ensure the health of all the residents. Many were upset because of the joy it brings to them, but this cancellation came as a shock to no one. Coronavirus is a very serious disaster at the moment, and because of that it has swept peoples plans.

Many people made it known that they were upset through yelling in the hallways when they got the news, to making Instagram and Snapchat stories showing how upset they were. COVID-19 has made a big impact and people are struggling to cope with its effects. It is clear that many people were planning to make a day of this, and have a great time with their friends and families, but Coronavirus has taken this and many other things away from people.