New Lenox Loyalty Day Parade returns this weekend

New Lenox — The Village of New Lenox will host the 44th annual William A. Athans and 18th District VFW Post’s Loyalty Day Parade starting at 2 p.m. Sunday.

According to a release from the village, the parade celebrates Loyalty Day, a holiday which takes place every year on May 1 to demonstrate loyalty to the country and “recognize the heritage of our American Freedom.”

The parade started in 1978 by the Athans family and the New Lenox VFW Post 9545 and was brought back by the village in 2022 after a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year, the village will be presenting the second annual William A. Athans Award to one parade entry who “best embodies the sentiment of the Loyalty Day Parade and of New Lenox’s history as the Home of Proud Americans.”

The organizers also will present the Spectator’s Choice Award and the Spirit Award to participants based on votes for the crowd. Each award winner will receive a $100 prize.

“As the Home of Proud Americans, New Lenox is honored to be able to celebrate our country, our flag, and all those who have served or currently serve in our Armed Force with this annual event,” the village said in the release.

The parade will be held regardless of weather conditions and will follow a route down Cedar from 4th Avenue, turn onto Haven, and end at the Veterans Memorial in the Village Commons, according to the release.

New Lenox resident and retired Lincoln-Way High School District 210 administrator Jim Pitcairn will serve as the parade’s grand marshal.

Pitcairn, 85, has spent his entire life in the Joliet and worked for 33 years at Lincoln-Way High School, first as an art teacher then for twenty years as an administrator. He and his wife Kathryn have lived in New Lenox for 61 years and raised their two children in the community.

“Jim is the epitome of a servant leader and the Village of New Lenox is honored to recognize and celebrate his lifetime of service to our community,” New Lenox Mayor Tim Balderman and the village Trustees said in the release.

After retiring from Lincoln-Way, Pitcairn mentored special-needs junior high students from District 122 and worked for the New Lenox fire District, where he also served as volunteer fire fighter after moving to the community in 1971.

Pitcairn co-chaired the referendum committee, which won the Village Home Rule status in 2008. He has served on the Building Committee at United Methodist Church of New Lenox, which earned him the church’s Flame of Inspiration Award.

In 2001, he was voted Citizen of the Year by the New Lenox Chamber of Commerce, and the Chamber honored him again 10 years later with its first Lifetime Chamber Membership Award.

Pitcairn also is a 30-year member of the New Lenox Lions Club and a director of the Silver Cross Hospital Foundation. He continues to volunteer in the Silver Cross Emergency Department, where he has spent more than 7,500 hours over the past 16 years.