With its sprawling Jubilee Days parade, Zion is a go-to location in Lake County for Labor Day, but things got off to a bit of a dicey start Monday afternoon.
Just as the 1 p.m. parade got under way, mist and then light rain, ushered in by a cool front, blew along Sheridan Road, testing the mettle of those lining the street. But it didn’t last long, and most of the spectators held their ground, some briefly ducking under awnings and umbrellas.
An hour later, the rain was forgotten and the parade was still moving, with crowds two- and three-deep along the main stretch of the route.
As clouds were looking threatening before the rain started, “Papa Joe” Simon, waiting for the parade with his wife and other relatives, said the crowd looked a little lighter than usual, probably due to the weather.
“Most of us will brave it out,” Simon said. “But still, don’t rain on our parade.”
Gary Adams, of Zion, couldn’t have been more ready.
Sitting in an “Under the Weather” pod — basically an individual tent with an open front — he was unaffected as the light rain began to fall.
“We bought it for our son’s football games, and I thought ‘if it’s going to rain, we might as well bring it down,'” Adams said.
“We’re going to stay unless it gets really, really bad,” said Madeline Grzanich, of Waukegan, attending with several generations of her family.
The parade, which features more than 100 units and sometimes draws up to 10,000 spectators, according to organizers, is billed as the largest Labor Day parade in Illinois.
“Happiness is…” was a theme of the parade this year, and parade participants provided answers, including “…made with union labor” on a float by the Lake County local of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and “…waving to veterans” on a truck carrying veterans of World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam War.
Other parade units included Waukegan Township’s Art Bus, the Lake County Shriners on their motorized carts, floats and marchers from Naval Station Great Lakes and Zion-Benton Township High School, city officials and local politicians.
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There also was the requisite Uncle Sam on stilts, a variety of bands and food and vendors at the start of the parade and along the route.
The parade is a tradition spanning several decades, and Jubilee Days Executive Director Richard Walker maintains every year that it is the largest Labor Day parade in Illinois.
“So far, no one has called me on it,” Walker said as preparations were being finalized for this year’s event.
Other highlights of Jubilee Days included an ice cream social, the crowning of city’s Miss, Jr. Miss and Little Miss winners, arts and crafts, a chamber orchestra show and a fireworks display Sunday night.
Jubilee Days began almost 70 years ago as celebration of the fall harvest and a recognition of the blessings bestowed upon the community, Walker said.