Beautiful flowers from Chicago florists will "blow" you away. See what else this "windy city" has to offer.
Near a portage between the Mississippi River watershed and the Great Lakes, lies the city of Chicago IL. Founded in the 18th century by Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, Chicago is also known as the Windy City, Second City, and Chi-town to give but a few of the its nicknames. In a span of forty years, Chicago grew from a population of 30,000 to over one million by 1890 making it one of the fastest to grow in the nation’s history. It is now home to close to three million people with another nine million living in the surrounding suburbs. The city is made up of a diverse group with residents representing races and cultures from around the world. This is perhaps most evident in Chicago’s long list of parades.
The city does indeed have an affinity for parades with some estimates putting the total at around 40 parades each year. There is the Cinco De Mayo Mexican Parade, the Puerto Rican Parade, the Greek Independence day Pay, the Polish Constitution Parade, The Ecuador Parade, the Central American Parade and the grand scale St. Patrick’s Day Parade; for which the Chicago River is actually dyed green in celebration! In fact, the list goes on. Chicago seems to have parades for everything from Thanksgiving to Halloween and pretty much everything in between.
Local businesses do very well with the parade circuit and the restaurants and shops along the parade route typically see ten times the traffic they would on a regular day. Parades are great for the kids and great for business. Chicago florists tend to reap the benefits of the city’s love of parades. Parade floats are often decorated with flowers so Chicago flower shops can be extremely busy in the days before a parade is to take place. Chicago flower shops and wholesalers take orders weeks in advance of a parade and spend the days up to the event in preparation. Often the Chicago florists can’t compete with the Chicago flower wholesalers. Some of the parade budgets are limited and a wholesaler has the ability to come down in their pricing making their flowers a more reasonable option. Either way, parades bring big profits the Chicago flower industry.
Parades are a staple of life in Chicago as they not only generate more income for local businesses, but they also serve to bring their communities closer together. Next time you’re in the Windy City, and browsing the newspaper for local events, you can be certain that you’ll find a parade listed among them. At least for the city of Chicago, the statement “Everyone Loves a Parade” must actually ring true!
Chicago "Must See" Attractions
Take a fun tour of Chicago by visiting some of the places below:
- The Sears Tower, the fourth largest building in the world.
- The John G. Shedd Aquarium/Oceanarium, which offers the world's largest indoor collection of aquatic mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and fish.
- The Lincoln Park Zoo, one of the oldest zoos in the country.
- The Lake Michigan shoreline with its numerous beaches, lagoons, harbors, and Navy Pier.
- Millennium Park, a combination of architecture, sculpture, landscape design, and a sophisticated outdoor concert venue offering numerous events.
For flower delivery to Chicago, you can even look to Oak Lawn florists, flower shops in Lyons, or florists in Norridge because our shops are real neighborhood florists. You can count on Elmwood Park florists and Skokie flower shops to deliver fresh flowers right to the recipient's door.
The rose is fairest when 'tis budding new,
And hope is brightest when it dawns from fears.
- Sir Walter Scott
Gather ye rose-buds while ye may,
Old Time is still aflying,
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying.
- Robert Herrick
The garden should be adorned with roses and lilies, the turnsole, violets, and mandrake.
There you should have parsley, cost, fennel, southern-wood, coriander, sage, savory, hyssop, mint, rue, dittany, smallage, pellitory, lettuces, garden-cress, and peonies.
There should also be beds planted with onions, leeks, garlic, pumpkins and shallots.
The cucumber growing in its lap, the drowsy poppy, the daffodil and brank-ursine ennoble a garden.
Nor are there wanting, if occasion further thee, pottage-herbs, beets, herb-mercury, orache, sorrel and mallows, anise, mustard, white pepper and wormwood do good service to the gardener.
- Alexander of Neckham
Stop to smell the roses
- Thom Bodebt