Thousands enjoy St. Patrick’s parades in Palatine, St. Charles

St. Patrick's Day parades took place throughout the suburbs Saturday, though because of fickle weather morning parades had sunshine, while snow flurries fell during ones that took place in the afternoon.

There was sunshine in for Palatine's parade, which rolled westward along Wood Street as people lined the parkways to watch.

Jason Stallard and Gina Elstrom were the king and queen of the Palatine parade and rode in a convertible as they waved to spectators and tossed candy to kids. They said they were both honored to be nominated to be king and queen.

“For me, Palatine is a great place to live and be a part of the community on this fun day,” Stallard said. “We get to hang out with our neighbors — it's a pretty cool opportunity and honor.”

“It's just a celebration — everybody's happy to be together with friends and family,” Elstrom said.

Snowflakes began to fall just before the 2 p.m. start of the St. Charles parade, but that didn't stop the thousands of people who lined Main Street to watch the parade's passage.

Volunteers from the St. Charles Business Alliance, which sponsored the parade, handed out small Irish flags for people to wave while viewing the passage of the parade's 85 entries.