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Award of Excellence
Jon Lowenstein Freelance
"South Side"
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Fans of Yung Jock scream and tossle for attention for
the well known rapper as he rode by on the WGCI Radio Station's float in the
annual Bud Billiken Parade in 2006. What began as the wish of Chicago
Defender's founder Robert S. Abbott to organize the many youth who sold the
newspaper, mushroomed into what is now the largest parade in the United
States. The first Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic was held August 11, 1929.
The parade route ran from 31st and Michigan Boulevard to Washington Park. In
the mid-30's the city rerouted the parade to South Parkway because its
Michigan route tied up traffic as it went east into Washington Park. Around
1947, it was rerouted back to Michigan due to street repairs on South
Parkway. After the street repairs the Bud Billiken® Parade and Picnic
returned to South Parkway and has remained there ever since. South Parkway,
now named Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, runs through the African
American neighborhood on the City's Southside. Since the Bud Billiken®
Parade and Picnic began, more than 50 million children and their families
have made the second Saturday in August a day of community and celebration of
African American togetherness and just plain fun.
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