Chicago Greek Parade 2019 A greek celebration in the heart of greektown
Chicago, home to one of the worlds largest Greek population will welcome thousands of spectators and participants to this year's Hellenic Heritage Parade. The Parade will be held on May 5th at 2 pm, beginning at the corner of Halsted and Randolph Street and ending at Van Buren Street.
The Greek parade is hosted by The Federation of Hellenic American Organizations of Illinois (aka. Enosis) a non-profit organization that was founded in 1986. This year's committee is led by Enosis president, Kostas Chaniotakis, Parade Chairman, George Reviliotis and Parade Director, George Katerinis.
Master of Ceremonies is NBC's awards winning News Anchor and Radio Host, Alex Maragos. Joining him is WGN Radio's newest edition, Producer Vivianne Linou.
Leading the Parade as Grand Marshals are: theoretical computer scientist Konstantinos Daskalakis. A professor at MIT's Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department, member of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, who was awarded the Rolf Nevanlinna Prize in 2018. With him is Mike Bousis, as a teenager he started working his family's grocery business and turned it into an economic empire, providing work for thousands of unemployed. Now his success has taken him to international waters and his charitable efforts knows no bounds.
The Hellenic Heritage Parade, referred to by some as the Greek Independence Day Parade has been celebrated in the United States since the 20th century. The first parade in Chicago was in 1965, a city-wide celebration with the route on State Street and Wacker Drive to the Eisenhower Expressway . It wasn't until the mid 1990's that it relocated to 'Greektown' where spectators and participants can enjoy the splendor of Greek food, ouzo and visit the National Hellenic Museum that opened on Halsted Street in 2011.
For more information visit The Federation of Hellenic American Organizations of Illinois at www.enosisgroup.org