Naperville, St. Charles deck out in green for parades

Suburban residents who are Irish - or Irish at heart - got to celebrate St. Patrick's Day days early Saturday with several parades, from Lake Villa to Naperville.

"Everyone makes claims to be Irish, right? This is the day you get to do it," Kyle McBroom of St. Charles said before the start of the St. Patrick's Day parade in downtown St. Charles.

Officially, St. Patrick's Day is Thursday, March 17.

But the celebration was in full swing Saturday morning during the West Suburban Irish St. Patrick's Day Parade in Naperville.

The parade, which ran through downtown, featured more than 90 units, including Irish dancers, bagpipers, floats and a number of political candidates.

And a lot of people - parade participants and spectators alike - were wearing green.

"It's all about the spirit of the Irish," said Kathy Bush of Bolingbrook. "It doesn't matter who you are as long as you're coming out to have fun."

Bush said her 9-year-old daughter, Brianne, has participated in the Naperville parade each of the last four years. "We'll probably come every year because it's so much fun," she said.

Parade watchers in St. Charles and Naperville said the suburban events were a good alternative to Chicago's much more popular annual parade, which also was on Saturday.

Lindsey Gause of Warrenville said she attended the Naperville parade because it's closer than Chicago.

"You don't have to deal with public transportation and all of that," she said. "It's a lot easier and more convenient."

Naperville resident Diane Fleischel said the only thing missing in her town is the river doesn't get dyed green.

"It's a really good experience," she said of the Naperville parade. "It just gets bigger and better each year."

The crowds at the suburban parades also appear to be getting larger. Thousands of people lined both sides of Main Street for the St. Charles parade.

Tammy Damato grabbed a spot early along the parade route so she could get a view of her daughter in the St. Charles East High School marching band.

"The last parade I saw was the Christmas parade," the St. Charles resident said. "It was cold then, and it was packed out here."

In past years, the Naperville and St. Charles parades have had to deal with weather that was a wee bit nippy.

Conor Cunneen, one of the volunteers working at the Naperville event, said he was pleased with Saturday's "wonderful" weather.

"We've had snow. We've had rain," the Naperville resident said of past parades. "It's a bit like Ireland."