WOOGMS Parade Returns To East Lakeview For First Time Since COVID-19 Pandemic Began
CHICAGO (CBS) -- One of Chicago's unique Labor Day traditions returned this year.
The WOOGMS Parade – an annual tradition on both Memorial Day and Labor Day - was held in person Monday for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic started.
The East Lakeview neighborhood event has one rule – if you show up, march you must.
WOOGMS stands for Wellington-Oakdale Old Glory Marching Society, for two east-west residential streets in the community.
WOOGMS has held Memorial and Labor Day parades since 1963. DNAinfo reported in 2013 that it started when Oakdale Avenue resident Al Weisman's neighbor gave him a five-foot flagpole – and he decided to hold a march with the flagpole accompanied by local kids.
On that occasion, fewer than 10 children attended – with one girl strumming the Israeli national anthem "Hatikva" on a violin, DNAinfo reported.
But the parade took off and continues on 58 years later.