Holiday Parade Tip: How to Avoid the Crowd

Hundreds of kids will descend upon the Magnificent Mile tomorrow night to see the twinkle lights on Michigan Avenue and to watch the Disney holiday parade. If that isn’t enough to keep any self-respecting city dweller out of the vicinity, remember that there will also be large numbers of suburbanites driving downtown, probably talking on their cell phones while trying to parallel park. Scary. So if you’re out and about, look lively. Chances are they won’t be looking at all.

I like seeing the parade floats myself but prefer to avoid the body-crushing crowd and crazy drivers. Strollers are hard to compete with on the sidewalk too, and sometimes I can only see as far as the rear end of the person standing in front of me when the parade marches by.

So the best way to see the floats up-close is to swing by the holding area on Oak Street. From what I recall, parade folks start lining up there at about 4:30 p.m. You can usually stroll through and see everything without having to endure the madness of the crowd. And it’s a great way to kick-off the holidays!