By Tim Hadac
Managing Editor
Southwest Chicago Post
Managing Editor
Southwest Chicago Post
A husband-wife team long known for making the community a better place will serve as the grand marshals of the Midway Chamber of Commerce's Pumpkin Jamboree Parade in 2026.
Mike and Bonnie Riordan, who recently retired from the Mike Riordan State Farm Agency, will ride in style at the festive annual event, set for Saturday, October 24.
The parade will step off at 10:00 a.m. from Archer and Nordica, heading east on Archer to 55th Street, then east to Merrimac, then south to Kennedy High School, where it will disband in Wentworth Park.
All Midway area residents are welcome to attend and watch from the curbs.
Each year, the parade draws several thousand people, most of whom are boys and girls who get in the spirit of the event by wearing their favorite Halloween costumes.
"This year's choice for grand marshal was a no-brainer," said longtime MCC officer Al Cacciottolo, long a driving force behind the parade. "The Riordans have been a pillar of the neighborhood, both in terms of the service they've provided to their customers and through their sponsorship of local events. Plus, Bonnie served on the Chamber board and helped guide the group's success."
Mike Riordan said he and Bonnie were pleasantly surprised to learn of their selection as grand marshals.
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| Mike and Bonnie Riordan |
"It was nice. I mean, we're honored," he told the Southwest Chicago Post. "We've been Chamber members since '87."
Mike grew up in Mount Greenwood, graduating from St. Christina School in 1974. He went on to Marist High School but tranferred Lyons Township High School when his family moved to La Grange. Later, he graduated from Southern Illinois University with a degree in business management.
Bonnie grew up in Bellwood, graduating from St. John Chrysostom School before attending Proviso West High School. Then it was on to Triton College, although she left to pursue an acting career--where she won roles and achieved success. Most notably, she was on track to land a role in the hit TV show Moonlighting.
But she walked away from that when she started dating Mike in 1985. They were wed the following year at St. Genevieve Church on the North Side.
"Her agent was fuming," Mike recalls with a chuckle.
During those years, Mike was learning the ropes, first as a claims adjuster and then with a State Farm agency in Downers Grove. In 1987 he became his own boss when he took over what had been the Al Sadlowski State Farm Agency in Garfield Ridge.Bonnie joined the business later, in a move fueled initially by a bit of exasperation.
"He was working long hours, and I'd be at home wondering why he's late for dinner so often," she explains. "So I just started coming to the office to see for myself. And I found that yes, there's a lot of work involved in serving people's needs."
For more than 30 years, the Mike Riordan State Farm Agency was headquartered at 6538 W. Archer, in a building that neighborhood old timers may recall as the site of a home improvement business owned by the Fazzari family.
Over the year, the Mike Riordan State Farm Agency served literally thousands of individuals, families and businesses in the greater Midway area--most through insurance, but also financial services.
"We were very fortunate to be here. It was a privilege," Mike recalls. "We served people well, and we had many third- and fourth-generation clients. We did a lot of college funding, retirement funding, we made car loans, and we helped teach teach people how to build their credit scores and plan for a secure future."
In retirement, "we'll miss everything, but mostly the relationships we've built with so many good people," the Riordans agree.
About the parade
While the Pumpkin Parade has been a family favorite for decades, the Midway Chamber of Commerce took ownership of it in 2020, after it was orphaned by the departure of U.S. Rep. Daniel Lipinski from Congress.
“Midway Chamber of Commerce members care quite a bit about the neighborhoods we serve, and this parade--like all our events--is evidence of that,” Brown said. “The thousands of boys and girls, moms and dads, grandmas and grandpas who enjoy this parade every year…those are our customers, our clients or our patients, as the case may be. We care about them.”
In conjunction with the parade, the MCC's Dia De Los Muertos event is set for Wentworth Park, and its pop-up Garfield Ridge Market will be staged at the northwest corner of Archer and Narragansett.
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