Naperville, IL
The Chicago suburb of
Naperville is to officially host the India Independence Day parade this
year, making it the first city in Midwest America to do so.
The
parade is organized in many American cities by private organizations
like the Federation of Indian Associations. The parade will be held on
August 16, a Sunday.
Naperville's Indian Community Outreach
Organization(ICO) and the Alliances of Midwest Indian Association have
jointly organized the parade and related celebrations which includes
hoisting the Indian flag at the Naperville Municipal Center. The
organizers said that they anticipated a large turnout, rivalling the
Independence Day parade in Chicago's 'little India' Devon Avenue,
traditionally the biggest such event in the area.
The India Day
Parade will showcase India's rich and diverse culture, with several
floats organized by Indian cultural, business and political
organizations. Spectators will be treated to a rich variety of Indian
cuisine, ethnic arts, apparel and jewelry.
At an event to
announce the parade, senior city officials were unabashedly
enthusiastic. Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico and Mayor Emeritus George
Pradel lauded the contributions of the suburb's Indian American
community. There was even a proposal for Pradel to be the 'parade
marshal' attired in a traditional Indian attire.
"Indian
Americans are now a significant part of Naperville's population in both
numbers and impact," said ICO chairman Krishna Bansal. The community,
which saw a dramatic grown since the nineties, now comprises ten percent
of the suburb's total population. Moreover, with the recent influx of
information technology workers and other professionals from India, over
70 percent are first generation immigrants.
Local observers see
the parade as a symbol of the rapid growth of the Indian American
community in the Chicago suburbs. Indian-Americans are the largest Asian
ethnic group in Illinois, according to data from the last census.
Demographers and Indian community leaders say they expect that the
figures will increase even more as highly educated Indians continue to
fill jobs in the computer industry and change the face of the suburbs.
Earlier,
Indian immigrants chose to first settle near Chicago's Devon Avenue,
and later moved to the suburbs as they prospered. In a demographic
shift, recent Indian immigrants move directly to suburbs like
Naperville, which has a highly regarded school system.
Naperville,
ranked as one of the most desirable American cities to raise a family,
is home to more than 10,000 Indian-Americans, making it the suburb with
the largest population of the community in the area outside Chicago.
