ABC Local: Woogms Parade a Chicago tradition turning 50
The following is a transcription from an ABC Local story on Woogm's Memorial Day Parade on May 27, 2013. A copy of the article can be found here.
Now this year turning 50 is the WOOGM's Parade held every Labor day and Memorial Day. It's a display of small town patriotism in the heart of the city and it stepped off this morning in the Lakeview Community. The WOOGM's Parade is a neighborhood favorite. It's formal name is a mouthful: The Wellington Oakdale Old Glory Marching Society. But the concept is informal: Everybody Marches, no body watches. And idea that is embraced by people of all ages.
Parade Marshall Tony Weisman: This is the kind of small town fun that's just really unusual to find at the heart of a big city.
Anchor: Tony Wiseman's father started the parade fifty years ago and over the years, it has grown to include at least one thousand marches who convene every Memorial Day and Labor Day at the start of the route at Pine Grove and Wellington.
Weisman: This parade started in 1963 when my father grabbed me and about nine other kids and a neighbor had given him a flag and he said, "I can either stick it out the window or I can march around the block," and we marched around the block.
Anchor: Joining Wiseman are his three sons, are the third generation parade marshalls.
Michael Weisman: This is my 40th parade now. I have been doing this twice a year ever since I was in infant.
Anchor: This has become a tradition for many people, who come back year after year. Even a painful harmstring injury sustained in a hockey game a few weeks ago couldn't keep Congressman Quigley away.
Rep. Mike Quigley: I haven't missed it since 1983. I'm not going to allow a little hamstring injury slow me down for that.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan: No body watches. And as a kid, every kid wants to be in a parade and I still remember being 5, 6, 7, 8 and it's just so great because you get to actually march in the street.
Anchor: And that enthusiasm just might keep the WOOGM's parade going strong for many more years.
Andrew Kassarjian: It's like, we get to walk all over the city, well not all over, but we get to walk a portion of it and we don't get to use a car.
Anchor: Haha, very good. The parade ended at St. Joseph Hospital where there are five placks commemorating each decade that the parade has taken place. The next WOOGM's parade is Labor Day.