City Hosting Downtown Parade And Rally Friday For Cubs

Chicago Cubs president for baseball operations Theo Epstein celebrates after Game 7 of the Major League Baseball World Series Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016, in Cleveland. The Cubs won 8-7 in 10 innings to win the series 4-3.
Chicago Cubs president for baseball operations Theo Epstein celebrates after Game 7 of the Major League Baseball World Series Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016, in Cleveland. The Cubs won 8-7 in 10 innings to win the series 4-3. David J. Phillip / AP Photo
Chicago Cubs president for baseball operations Theo Epstein celebrates after Game 7 of the Major League Baseball World Series Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016, in Cleveland. The Cubs won 8-7 in 10 innings to win the series 4-3.
Chicago Cubs president for baseball operations Theo Epstein celebrates after Game 7 of the Major League Baseball World Series Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016, in Cleveland. The Cubs won 8-7 in 10 innings to win the series 4-3. David J. Phillip / AP Photo

City Hosting Downtown Parade And Rally Friday For Cubs

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.

Die-hard Cubs fans might be taking an extra day off this week. 

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the city will hold a downtown parade and rally for the World Series champions Friday afternoon. Emanuel said he talked to Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts Thursday morning about a parade “that will stand the test of time.”

“It will be a parade that a 108 years have waited for,” Emanuel said. “It will be a parade and a celebration that all of Chicago for 108 years, in their mind’s eye, have been envisioning, and we’re gonna make it a reality here in the city of Chicago”

The parade will begin at Wrigley Field at 10 a.m. Friday, according to a statement from the mayor’s office. It will then make its way toward downtown around 11 a.m., travelling down Michigan Avenue between Oak and Ohio streets. The parade will then head east down Columbus Drive toward Grant Park, where a rally will be held around noon.

Street closures for the parade will start as early as 4 a.m. Friday, the statement said.

The mayor’s office recommended areas for fans to view the parade. They are: 

  • Addison between Sheffield and Pine Grove on the North Side 
  • North Michigan Avenue from Oak and Ohio streets
  • Columbus Drive between Monroe Street and Balbo Avenue

Speaking at a separate event, Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said the city is getting better about planning parades. 

“Every time we do these types of events, we learn something a little extra,” Johnson said at a City Club of Chicago event.. “So we always build on to it. So we’ll utilize some of the same things we used for the Blackhawks celebration.” 

Fans across the city flocked to Wrigleyville after the Cubs won their first World Series since 1908, beating the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in 10 innings of a nail-biting Game 7 late Wednesday. 

Sherry Davidson told WBEZ she was able to make her way through the onslaught of fans who gathered in front of Wrigley Field Wednesday. 

“And then I got trampled outside there,” she said. “And the police had to drag me out of the street and put me on the sidewalk. I could have ended up in the hospital and not cared because I was here!”