As healing from Highland Park shooting continues, Bud Billiken Parade is set to launch with enhanced security presence and focus on rooftops

Dorri McWhorter, president and CEO of YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, said she screamed when she received the call from Bud Billiken Parade organizers that she was selected to be an honorary grand marshal for the annual South Side event.

“Out of all the things that I’ve done professionally, to be able to call my mom and tell her I’m gonna be in the Bud Billiken Parade, it’s the best thing ever,” McWhorter said. She said her mom shared the news on relative text threads and McWhorter shared the news on a thread with her cousins.

“It’s such a shared experience between all of us … everyone just knew that this is a big deal,” McWhorter said. “It doesn’t matter that I’ve got an honorary doctorate. I’m a Bud Billiken honorary grand marshal! This literally will be one of those best life experiences because it’s Bud Billiken.”

The parade and festival, set to take place Saturday, is celebrating 93 years. But the celebration will also be taking place a month after the Highland Park parade shooting, something that McWhorter said she thinks about, but is relying on the energy and love that surrounds the Bud Billiken parade to keep everyone safe.

“For me, this is a way to let folks know that we have to continue to come back and be unified in that comeback and don’t let people who wish to do harm win at the end of the day,” McWhorter said.

Myiti Sengstacke-Rice, Bud Billiken Parade chair and president and CEO of Chicago Defender Charities Inc. said she was worried about how the community was going to react to the Bud Billiken Parade post Highland Park, but she and McWhorter said they haven’t received any comments from families or community organizations concerned about participating this year. McWhorter said she hasn’t received any specific safety measures prior to the parade so far.

“We’re moving forward,” Sengstacke-Rice said. “The thing about Bud Billiken is safety and security has always been our priority. We probably have the most security compared to a lot of other parades because of the climate that we’re in. We have our own security firm that we’ve doubled up with, we have all the city agencies involved, and of course the police. I haven’t heard anything negative from anybody worrying about anything happening. I feel the incident in Highland Park was a somewhat isolated situation.”

Police will keep a close eye on rooftops as they secure the parade, Chicago’s top officer said.

The need to focus on high ground is a “lesson learned from Highland Park,” Chicago police Superintendent David Brown said Monday. At Highland Park’s Fourth of July event, a gunman perched on a rooftop killed seven and injured dozens by firing down onto spectators and marchers with an assault rifle.

[ Highland Park parade shooting: What we know about the victims, suspect, community and aftermath ]

In response, Chicago officers protecting the much larger parade this weekend will “really focus on the high ground, rooftops, other high ground areas,” the superintendent said.

“We’ll have an urgent look at intelligence, focus on the numbers of officers assigned, focus on the ingress, egress,” Brown said.

Plain-clothed and uniformed officers will be present for the annual Bronzeville event, which was started by the Chicago Defendercq 93 years ago. The back-to-school parade describes itself as the second-largest in America and the country’s largest African-American parade.

Uniformed and plainclothes officers will be present, and police will use all the technology they have to secure the procession, Brown said. He encouraged people who see anything suspicious at the parade route to report it to police.

Police and organizers have met regularly throughout the summer to discuss parade security, said Myiti Sengstacke-Rice, president and CEO of Chicago Defender Charities, the organization that runs the parade.

“We’re really excited about this year in particular because the communication has grown stronger between our team and the city of Chicago,” Sengstacke-Rice said.

Given the pandemic was the cause for the Bud Billiken Parade to be canceled in 2020 and a shortened, televised one in 2021, Sengstacke-Rice thinks people are just happy to experience what the Bud Billiken represents for the community, complete with its regular schedule and parade length. A lot of the mainstay teams are back — marching bands, dance groups, drill teams and more sponsors are involved ready to give back to families and students during this back-to-school season. The parade’s theme is Power of Bud Billiken 365.

“The reason we say 365 is because we’re bigger than the one day event, we do so much more,” Sengstacke-Rice said. “We’re celebrating what we’re doing year-round and what everybody’s doing in the community.”

The parade will be led by grand marshal singer and producer Jeremih and honorary grand marshals Brig. Gen. Rodney Boyd, commander of the Illinois Army National Guard; Cheryl Green, president of Governors State University; Brett Hart, president of United Airlines; Sanja Rickette Stinson, executive director of Matthew House; Mark Edmond, Jamel Lewis, and Charles Alexander, owners/founders of Chicago-based Black Bread Co., and social media personality Korporate. WLS-Ch. 7′s Cheryl Burton, Jim Rose and Hosea Sanders will host with colleagues Karen Jordan and Terrell Brown covering the parade grounds.

Sengstacke-Rice wants to remind people that the day is more than just the parade. She encourages families to walk through the accompanying festival in Washington Park to receive free items from sponsors and resources and job opportunities for families. She said partners such as Amazon will be giving away school supplies and Mielle Hair Products are doing free hair braiding for the girls to prepare them for school and haircuts for the boys.

“It’s about the kids — showcasing their talents, supporting them and preparing them for school,” Sengstacke-Rice said. She expects about 300,000 attendees this time around, with about 250 participating in the parade.

McWhorter agrees that the Bud Billiken Parade is part of the local and national back-to-school checklist — clothes, yes; backpack, yes, Bud Billiken, yes, check. Having watched the parade every year to catch the South Shore Drill Team on TV while growing up in Wisconsin, McWhorter said her mom will be watching her in the parade from Las Vegas and a lot of other relatives plan on watching it from around the country.

“We loved seeing all the community that would come out and support the Bud Billiken just to see all the folks make sure that the youth of Chicago know that they matter,” she said. “To see folks descend upon the South Side and down King Drive it’s definitely something to behold.”

The parade will start at 10 a.m. on 39th Street and Martin Luther King Drive heading south on King Drive, going through Washington Park, and ending at Garfield Boulevard (55th Street).

drockett@chicagotribune.com