Teen founder of Buffalo Grove Pride Parade to be honored at Chicago's event
Even as plans for Buffalo Grove's first Pride Parade on June 2 move forward, the 13-year-old who's been organizing it has been named the youth grand marshal in Chicago's 50th annual Pride Parade held the same month.
“I was, of course, very honored,” said Molly Pinta, who's been working on the Buffalo Grove parade for nearly 11 months. “It made me very proud of all the work we did this year.”
Her mother, Carolyn Pinta, has coordinating with the Buffalo Grove officials who recently issued the permit for the village's parade.
“Is she lucky, or what?” her mom said.
Carolyn Pinta expressed her gratitude to the staff, in particular Deputy Village Manager Jennifer Maltas and Buffalo Grove police Deputy Chief Scott Eisenmenger.
“The village staff has been outstanding, absolutely outstanding from day one,” she said.
Including such safety requirements as crowd barricades, Carolyn Pinta estimated the cost so far at $34,000.She said contributions have totaled around $42,000.
While the Chicago parade Molly will be honored at is a major event, a stronger inspiration for the Buffalo Grove one was the tamer, more family-friendly suburban parade the family attended in Aurora last year after the teenager came out, Carolyn Pinta said.
Buffalo Grove Village Manager Dane Bragg said staff involvement has included making sure the parade route, the number of entries and the access points in and out of the parade are secure, He added there has been an examination of the traffic impact for the benefit of residents in the area.
“There has been a lot of back and forth. If the parade continues in the future years, it will get easier,” Bragg said, “I think we have a better idea now of what it will be in the future, if they choose to continue with it.
Asked if this was the biggest commitment of village resources to a private event, Bragg said, “I would say in recent history, yes. We used to have the arts fair, which was a partnership deal. We had quite a few resources committed to that. This would probably be the biggest that we have committed to any kind of private function.”
The Buffalo Grove parade will step off at 10 a.m. June 2 at Checker Drive and Carry Lane and run north for four-fifths of a mile toward Route 83.
Chicago's parade will start at 11 a.m. June 30. The route is along Halsted Street from Addison to Grace streets.