Chicagoans celebrate at Bud Billiken Parade

story by WGN-TV news

Thousands of Chicagoans came out to celebrate education at the 81st annual Bud Billiken Parade Saturday.

The parade, which proceeds through Bronzeville, is aimed at getting kids ready to go back to school,

This year's parade Grand Marshal and presidential advisor Valerie Jarrett, reminded children about the importance of getting an education.

In addition to the emphasis on education, the parade provided an abundance of entertainment.

There was dancing, with the South Shore Drill Team, a local martial arts school and various cheerleading troupes and private dance companies that performed their routines, while kids who chased them down the street.

Since it first took to South Side streets on Aug. 11, 1929, the Bud Billiken Parade has celebrated children and education by marking the impending end of summer and start of the new school year.

Chicago Defender founder Robert Abbott and his editor, Lucius Harper, conceived the parade and " Bud Billiken" -- a fictional character from Chinese folklore who was a guardian of youth -- to celebrate the newsboys who helped distribute the paper.