Vintage Pet Parade Photos Stir Family Memories

The La Grange Pet Parade was the stuff of legends when I was growing up in suburban Cleveland.

We visited La Grange on a near-monthly basis to visit my grandfather in his yellow-brick home, the magical conduit between all things Chicago and me.

All things except the Pet Parade.

Year after year, my school ended just one week too late, denying me the privilege of the fabled dogs in hats, cats in pajamas and ponies on parade.

My mom reflected on the Pet Parade as one of the defining events of her childhood. It was, to her, what made La Grange special, for it was a big enough deal to draw even Bozo the Clown to the village.

That’s a measure of greatness I understand. I awoke many mornings at the crack of dawn to watch Bozo on the little corner TV at Grandpa’s, one of the many treats that came along with a visit. In that way, Bozo made La Grange special for me, too, because it was the only place where I could watch him before WGN went national.

I made it to my first Pet Parade nine years ago. It was the spring after my grandfather died and came in the midst of many months of sadness, the kind that never fully leaves you.

But the Pet Parade that day stripped away a little of the ache I came to associate with La Grange after my grandfather’s passing. How could it not when it featured a child so proudly pulling his pet turtle in a wagon?

The Pet Parade, among so many other wonderful things, does make La Grange special.

It connects generations: Families reunite that weekend. Dads march with daughters. I see in these photos what my grandfather saw so many decades ago.

See photos from this year's La Grange Pet Parade.