Members of Punjabi Cultural Society of Chicago braved the freezing weather early in the morning on November 25, 2004 the thanksgiving day to participate in the 71st. annual State Street Thanksgiving Parade in downtown Chicago. The parade was organized by Chicago Festival Association. http://www.chicagofestivals.org 

The parade stepped off at 8:30 am and ran till 11 am. and included a variety of 100 contingents of school bands, cultural organizations, performing groups, and huge balloons.

ABC- TV channel 7 covered it live from 9 am to 11 am. It will be rebroadcast by ABC- 7 on December 12, 2004 at 12 noon to 2 pm. In addition to the live coverage by ABC TV channel 7, other Chicago TV Channels 2, 9 & 32 also covered the parade and PCS participation at the parade. WGN Channel 9 and Fox Channel 32 also gave pre-parade coverage of the parade and the PCS contingent coordinated Miller Pear Public Relations

“PCS made history by participating in this parade first time this year.,” said Mohinderjit Singh Saini an organizer while talking to TV reporters, “and we will definitely come next year with a bigger contingent and an interesting theme,” he added.

The theme of PCS contingent was a Punjabi / Sikh wedding procession, which included a bride groom, wedding party, and Bhangra folk dancers, and Punjabi Dhol players, all in traditional colorful costumes. http://www.pcschicago.org/mainstream/Parade04/index.htm

The parade started on State and Congress and marched North on State Street and ended at Lake Street. There were 350,000 people on the street and .5 million viewers of this parade according to the organizer’s estimates.

"PCS was invited by Chicago Festival Association after PCS's participation at the Grand opening parade at Millennium Park in Chicago," said Dr. Harjinder Singh Khaira PCS past president. http://www.pcschicago.org/mainstream/MilleniumPark/index.htm 

“Overall it was a great exposure of our community in the mainstream, we need to do more,” said Onkar Singh Sangha the PCS president.

A children’s bhangra team “Shaan Punjab Dee” with Jaskaran Saini, Anoop Takhar, Berinder Saini, Rai Barinder Singh, and Sumeet Singh performed, and Jaskirit Khaira and Jeevanjot Saini also danced along with the bhangra troupe.

Maninder Singh and Sukhi Basati played superb Punjabi Dhol to keep the audiences involved and warmed up in the cold. 

Mohinderjit Singh Saini, Harjinder Singh Khaira, Onkar Singh Sangha, Thakar Singh Basati, Sunny Kular, and Rajinder Singh Mago participated in the parade and helped to coordinate the event.