Breaking:<\/strong>\u00a0Due to public outcry over the Soldier Field rally, the City has extended the parade route. The parade will now start at Washington Boulevard and Racine Avenue, run east along Washington to Desplaines Street, then run south on Desplaines to Monroe Street, and finally east on Monroe to Michigan Avenue. Coverage begins at 9 am.<\/p>\n Following the parade, a rally will be held at Soldier Field. Tickets will be needed to attend, and they went\u00a0live on Ticketmaster.com<\/a> at 12 p.m. Wednesday. They were available on a\u00a0first come first served basis,\u00a0and sold out within fifteen minutes. Fans crashed the Tickermaster website trying to get their hands on them before selling out.<\/p>\n If you were one of the lucky fans who got their hands on a ticket, Soldier Field opens at 8 am. If you missed out, don’t worry. Screens will be set up in Soldier Field’s south parking lot for those who can’t get in. This year’s parade and rally will be broadcasted live on WGN Channel 9 and WGNTV.com<\/a>. Mayor Rahm Emanuel has promised a “world class celebration.” There’s now only a 20%\u00a0chance of rain on Thursday according to Weather.com<\/a>\u00a0(it was previously as high as 60%). Police will be closing all north-south streets two blocks ahead of the parade as it moves down Monroe.<\/p>\n \u201cThe City of Chicago is so proud of the Blackhawks, which is why we are going to throw them a celebration that only Chicago can throw \u2013 a celebration worthy of a hockey dynasty,\u201d said Mayor Emanuel.<\/p>\n You can expect a little something like this at the rally:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Our first tip: last time fans began arriving as early as 1 am. Yeah, 1 am. If you want to get a good spot for the rally, you\u2019ll need to be there as early as you can possibly muster to keep up with the competition.<\/p>\n If you haven\u2019t figured out transportation, you\u2019ll want to get that out of the way immediately too. The City of Chicago is selling all-day passes for $5 for the CTA. Each adult is allowed to bring three children free of charge. Buses, trains, and streets will be extremely crowded. You\u2019ll be crammed like a pack of sardines if you come too late. Outside of leaving extremely early, our advice is to have a plan of attack. You can reserve parking at garages on Wabash and Randolph<\/a> and Dearborn and Van Buren<\/a>. Both of these offer some fairly decent specials and $25 rates for all day parking. Probably the cheapest you\u2019ll find anywhere. Click on each name to see their deals, reserve your spot, and pay for parking online ahead of time. We’ve been told that parking garages during the parades generally have plenty of capacity, and it looks like street closures won’t affect their availability. You can also visit InterPark Online<\/a>\u00a0or Chicago Parking Map<\/a> to reserve parking at plenty of\u00a0other garages around the area.<\/p>\n Other Tidbits:<\/strong><\/p>\n Drinking in public is still illegal. Cops will be hanging out and making you dump those beers out, so plan accordingly.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t be the loser wearing non-Hawks gear. If you absolutely have nothing (or your dog ate it or whatever) wear something red at the very least.<\/p>\n Bonus:<\/strong> Here’s a video of Grant Park and Jim Cornelison singing the anthem from 2013.<\/p>\n![\"Blackhawks](\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Blackhawks-Parade4-1024x683.jpg\")
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