Feast of Guadalupe could draw 100,000

Up to 100,000 people are expected to attend the annual celebration of the Virgin of Guadalupe this week at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines.

This religious holiday is celebrated throughout Mexico on Dec. 12. The Virgin of Guadalupe is one of the country's most iconic religious images, said to have appeared to S. Juan Diego outside Mexico City in 1531.

In Des Plaines, the celebration is set for Thursday, Dec. 11 and Friday, Dec. 12 on the Maryville Academy grounds at 1150 North River Road.

Celebrations will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday with a rosary followed by Mass in the gym, fireworks at 10 p.m., a procession at 10:30 p.m., traditional singing, or "mañanitas," at midnight, and Masses both outdoors and indoors at 12:30 a.m. On Friday, there will be Masses outdoors at 5 a.m., 8 a.m., noon, 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., and a rosary at 7 p.m., followed by a final Mass at 8 p.m.

A warming area will be set up this year, said Our Lady of Guadalupe's Father Miguel Martinez, who will celebrate Mass along with six other priests from Chicago and the suburbs.

Thirty additional police officers will be assigned to work traffic in the area, said Des Plaines Police Cmdr. Tim Veit.

Central Road between Wolf and East River roads will be closed from 4:30 p.m. on Thursday to 6 a.m. on Friday, and again from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday.

Veit stressed that virtually no parking will be available on the shrine's grounds. Seven satellite parking locations have been set up with bus shuttle service to the shrine costing $1 for adults and free for children.

Thousands of people are expected to make their way on foot to the Maryville campus.

"It's a constant river of people. The bulk of it comes from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m.," Veit said.

Some walk from parishes in Chicago and the suburbs and some team up for torch runs from as far away as the Hispanic neighborhood of Little Village on the Southwest Side of the city, a spokesman for the Chicago Archdiocese said.

For more information, call the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe at (847) 294-1806, or visit motherofamerica.org.