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Chicago Tribune
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Aurora community gathers for annual Pride Parade on Sunday: ‘It's what this country needs right now'
For Mandy Lohrman, 42, of Oswego, attending a Pride parade is about demonstrating to members of the LGBTQ+ community that they're safe. This was her first parade, and she came with her husband and her daughter, Nola, 11. 'Even just wearing the rainbow and everything, I mean, it sounds like such a simple thing,' she said as this year's Aurora Pride Parade was wrapping up on Sunday. 'But to show people that they're safe with you. … Everybody should be allowed to feel comfortable.' On Sunday afternoon, members of the LGBTQ+ community, their families and allies gathered in downtown Aurora for the city's sixth annual Pride Parade. The Aurora Pride Parade has taken place yearly since 2018, aside from two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, and is put on by the Aurora Pride organization, according to past reporting. This year's parade was set to feature between 60 and 70 marching groups, and the organization's president, Gwyn Ciesla, previously said the event typically draws between 5,000 and 6,000 spectators. The parade used to be organized by Indivisible Aurora, which Ciesla was a part of, but Aurora Pride split off as its own entity in 2019 and continued to host the parade, per its website. A big focus of the parade is for the annual event to be family-friendly, Ciesla said. 'Nothing you wouldn't want your 4-year-old niece to see,' Ciesla said. 'People have been really respectful of that, and it's been great.' This year's grand marshals for the parade, according to Aurora Pride's Facebook page, were: Corvin Ezri, founder of The Prideful Path Project; Aleyna Couture, a local drag queen known for her role in west suburban nightlife and mentorship within the local drag community; and Paulene Spika, a 71-year-old transgender woman who serves on the Aurora LGBTQ+ Advisory Board. On Sunday, a variety of groups came out to march in the parade: local LGBTQ+ school groups, area churches, elected officials and political advocacy groups. The Chicago Pride Guard performed, and several of the parade's sponsors — such as Pace Suburban Bus, ComEd and VCA Animal Hospitals — also showed up in support. Ciesla said the biggest difference this year was that some businesses pulled out their marching units or declined to sponsor the parade as they had in previous years, which Ciesla attributes to an 'increasingly hostile political climate.' The parade still had more interested marching groups than they could accept, though Ciesla said they were also down some volunteers this year. 'In years' past, Pride was a big thing, and you could go to any store and see how much … the (LGBTQ+) community was supported,' said League of Women Voters Aurora Area Chapter President Tania Traverso, who was gathered before the parade stepped off with some members of the League of Women Voters of Central Kane County. 'And it just seems like people are so fearful. … We need to speak with one voice.' Parade onlookers echoed similar sentiments about the importance of Pride parades amid threats to LGBTQ+ individuals under President Donald Trump's administration. 'I feel like people who are against Pride and against (the LGBTQ+ community) are much louder nowadays than they used to be,' said Kristin Millard, 29, of Plano, who works with the LGBTQ+ support club at Waubonsee Community College. 'So it's important for us to be even louder, too.' Sunday's parade was not the only Pride-related event going on in the area. The day before, the city's LGBTQ Advisory Board planned Pride at the Plaza, which was set to feature live music, a drag show, food trucks and booths from community organizations. And, following the parade, Aurora Pride also planned an after-party at the Two Brothers Roundhouse in Aurora, per a post from the group's Facebook page. However, this year, Aurora Mutual Aid did not host its annual CommUNITY Market, which is typically held in concurrence with the parade. The organization's executive director Luma Webster told The Beacon-News that they did not have sufficient volunteer capacity to plan and manage the event. In a statement on the organization's Facebook page, Aurora Mutual Aid said it was 'not off the table to bring the market back in 2026.' But, as for Sunday, parade-goers spoke favorably of this year's event. 'It was the best parade I've ever been to,' said Sharon Janus, 67, of St. Charles, who attended with her husband, Bruce, 75. 'I got goosebumps and I wanted to cry, because I felt so joyful for everybody that was here. I feel like they probably felt really safe here, you know, because look at all the people that came to stand by them.' The couple said they attend rallies, but this was their first Pride parade. They said they have a niece who's a member of the LGBTQ+ community. 'There was nothing but love in the air. … Seeing all the faces of little kids, and just everybody showing love,' Bruce Janus said. 'It's what this country needs right now.'
Chicago Tribune
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Three Pride Month events to be held in Aurora this weekend
To celebrate Pride Month, the Aurora community is set to hold three events, including a parade, around downtown this weekend. On Saturday, the Aurora LGBTQ+ Advisory Board will again this year be hosting Pride at the Plaza, which will transform Stolp Avenue in downtown Aurora with live music, a drag show, food trucks and booths from local community organizations, according to a news release from the city of Aurora. 'We're thrilled to kick off Aurora's Pride weekend with this event,' Zachary Bishop, chair of the Aurora LGBTQ+ Advisory Board, said in the city news release. 'We're building on last year's success to make this celebration even better with fantastic performers, delicious food and an inclusive space for everyone to enjoy.' Pride at the Plaza's entertainment lineup this year is set to include a drag performance by the Divas and live music from artists Cheryl Rodey and Invisible Cartoons, according to the release. The event will run from 6 to 10 p.m. and will be free, although there will be a suggested $5 donation to the Denee Mallon Scholarship Fund. The fund's namesake, Denee Mallon, fought to end Medicare's ban on transgender procedure coverage, and the scholarship will help members of the LGBTQ+ community in Aurora, the city's news release said. The Aurora Pride Parade, which is set to feature between 60 and 70 marching groups, including floats, will kick off downtown at noon on Sunday. The event has taken place yearly since 2018, except for two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, and is organized by the Aurora Pride organization. Gwyn Ciesla, president of Aurora Pride, said the parade is a family-friendly event that attracts all ages and yearly draws between 5,000 and 6,000 spectators. One difference between this year's Aurora Pride Parade and past ones, according to Ciesla, is that it will feature three grand marshals rather than just one. Ciesla said the grand marshals, which will lead the parade, are people honored for their work for or importance to the LGBTQ+ community in the Aurora area. This year's grand marshals, as announced on the Aurora Pride Facebook page, are: Corvin Ezri, founder of The Prideful Path Project; Aleyna Couture, a local drag queen known for her active role in west suburban nightlife and her mentorship within the local drag community; and Paulene Spika, a 71-year-old transgender woman who serves on the Aurora LGBTQ+ Advisory Board. The Aurora Pride Parade has a number of sponsors, its website shows, including Rush, NuMark Credit Union and Sonova. But Ciesla said the organization had some fundraising challenges this year because of the current political climate. 'You have some companies that are actively walking back any sort of DEI or equality initiatives and then others that are kind of doubling down and being more supportive,' Ciesla said. 'There's a lot of both.' Immediately following the parade, Aurora Pride will be hosting a party — aptly named the 2025 Pride Parade After Party — at the Two Brothers Roundhouse in Aurora. The party, planned to start at 1 p.m., will be family-friendly like the parade and will include food, drinks, live music, a drag show and more, according to a post on the Aurora Pride Facebook page. Tickets to the event cost $10 and will go towards funding next year's Pride Parade. Tickets can be purchased at the door on the day of the event or ahead of time at: Ciesla said that, although Chicago has long held Pride events, it is fantastic to see so many like the ones in Aurora pop up all over the state in recent years, because that means no one has to go that far to attend one. 'Now there's so many you can't even do them all even if you had a private jet,' Ciesla said.
Chicago Tribune
24-03-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Northbrook OKs residential to revive Northbrook Court mall; retail to come
The Northbrook Village Board has given Northbrook Court a green light to begin developing residential units before rehabilitating the struggling shopping mall's retail areas. After a special joint session of the board and Plan Commission on March 11, trustees approved special permits for the mixed-use planned development and amended the redevelopment and economic incentive agreement between the village and the developers of the mall to allow residential work before or during retail development. 'The developer is saying we want to be able to market the residential property and build residential units simultaneously or ahead of retail property because of market conditions,' Village President Kathryn Ciesla said. High interest rates and the economy have been an impediment to developing the retail property first, Ciesla said. 'But they want to move forward on the project, so they want to start marketing the residential,' she said. 'They hope and expect the economy will improve, and that with the addition of residential development, retail will soon follow.' Northbrook approved the redevelopment agreement with Northbrook Court NewCo and Northbrook Anchor Acquisition in 2023, Ciesla said. The agreement created a tax increment financing, or TIF, district and a business district – two redevelopment tools allowed by the state on 'blighted' property – on the 100-acre site. The tax incentives offered by those programs and another sales tax incentive included in the redevelopment deal will not be activated until the retail portion of the project is developed, said Amy McEwan, director of development and planning services for Northbrook. 'Until retail development is started and actually in operation, the business district designation has no particular effect,' McEwan said. 'The financial incentives are connected with retail rather than residential.' 'There are only certain things a TIF can pay for,' Ciesla said. 'We put that safeguard in place. We said you can develop residential if that's what the market dictates, but you can't spend TIF money until you develop retail and have 50 percent of retail spaces leased. We locked them down for the incentive to build retail.' The redevelopment proposal calls for a variety of residential units, similar to zoning for the Willow Festival project in Northbrook, Ciesla said. 'One area is for multifamily or apartment-type buildings,' she said. 'The others may be row houses or townhouses. They're designed to accommodate different types of buildings. We appreciated their ability to market each different type of space. For example, if the market calls for townhomes now, they would have that flexibility.' The developers did not commit to a timeframe for when the project will begin, but said the earliest possible groundbreaking would be in summer 2026, McEwan said. 'We're trying to stay flexible and help them get something going,' she said. 'We're using the tools we have trying to be a good partner and get this project moving.' The TIF designation effectively freezes property taxes at the current level and allows municipalities to use increases in those taxes to pay for development costs for up to 23 years. Business districts also last 23 years, but allow municipalities to increase sales or hotel taxes by up to 1 percent to cover eligible costs. Northbrook Court NewCo and Northbrook Anchor Acquisition, which are affiliates of Brookfield Properties, want to redevelop the mall, but have identified a 'gap' in the market that required the tax incentives, Ciesla said. 'Northbrook gave them incentives to help the land be developed,' she said. 'As much as we want them to move forward and go, go, go, Brookfield Properties is a private company. They're going to do it in the time they can do it because they have to answer to shareholders and investors.' Both Ciesla and McEwan said they are confident in the redevelopment proposal presented by the companies. 'They said they are committed to the project as designed,' Ciesla said. 'It appears to me in looking around and talking to other village presidents and government officials that this is kind of where we are today. Things are not necessarily moving, but we are hopeful. We want it to go. On the village side, we have done everything we can do.' 'I'm absolutely hopeful,' McEwan said. 'Whenever you have property looking at major redevelopment, that is important to the people and the community. The village has invested a significant amount of time and resources working with Brookfield Properties to develop a plan that meets the needs and expectations of the community.'
