500,000 Have a Party At Bud Billiken Parade

"It's a summer thang. Come on y'all. Let's kick it," beltedcelebrity rap musician Chantay Savage from aboard a float travelingdown Martin Luther King Drive.

The popular song drew a chorus from the thousands of elementaryand high school students who lined the route of the 65th Annual BudBilliken Day Parade held on the South Side Saturday.

Other children ran alongside the B.A.M. 2000 Records floatcarrying Savage, singing and dancing in the drizzle that dampenedeverything except spirits at the parade, which has been a ritual inthe black community for far too long to be stopped by a little rain.

"Rain? What rain?," said Cheryl Murff, 35, of the South Side,whose family had set up camp along the route between 39th and 55thstreets long before the parade kicked off at 10 a.m. "I've beencoming since I was 4. Rain just means you bring your raincoat andtough it out."

However, the rain definitely affected attendance at the event,one of the country's largest black parades. Sponsored by the ChicagoDefender Charities, the parade usually draws 15,000 marchers and morethan 1 million spectators.

This year, police and parade organizers said the rain made crowdestimates difficult, as spectators retreated under trees and othershelter along the way as the rain repeatedly started and stopped.But police estimated the crowd at under 500,000.

"Considering the rain, the turnout is excellent," said ChicagoDefender Publisher John H. Sengstacke. "Everyone's still having agood time."

The parade was founded in 1929 by Defender founder Robert S.Abbott and named after a mythical Chinese character who was said towatch over children. This year's theme was "Save Our Children. Stopthe Violence!" and participating were more than 300 floats, marchingunits, drill teams, drum and bugle corps, cheerleaders and pomponsquads.

"We're wet, but so are they," Leticia Hayes, 14, a dancer withthe Washington Park YMCA marching troupe, said pointing to the crowd."Just when you're getting tired, they start cheering you on, and youdon't get tired."

The parade drew its usual share of impromptu vendors. Along theroute, they hawked everything from soda to barbecued ribs, cakes andcandies to toys and anything else one needed for the mass picnicafterward in Washington Park.

The politicians turned out as well. Mayor Daley and Democraticgubernatorial candidate Dawn Clark Netsch were there, as were suchothers as the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Illinois Senate Minority LeaderEmil Jones Jr. (D-Chicago), Cook County Commissioner John Stroger,State Treasurer Patrick Quinn, Cook County Clerk David Orr, and ahost of Chicago aldermen.