ESTABLISHED 1930 • INCORPORATED 1952

Plenty of food and drinks, bagpipes and merriment filled a ballroom of more than 80 family members and friends who gathered at Palos Country Club on Sunday, February 9th, to honor the new Chicago 2020 St. Patrick’s Day Queen, Kari McClowry, and her court. Former State Senator Patrick O’Malley and his wife, Mary Judith, sponsored the gala event in honor of Kari, who is O’Malley’s cousin. Queen Kari is the third generation in a succession of Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Queens. Kathleen O’Malley, Kari’s grandmother, a Southsider who was originally from County Mayo, Ireland, was the 1947 queen. Sheila McClowry, Kathleen’s daughter and Kari’s aunt, from Evergreen Park, was the 1987 queen. (See photos below.)

Kari is a graduate of St. Mary’s of Notre Dame in South Bend, received her Master’s degree from Aurora University, and is a social worker at Kindred Hospice in Oak Brook. Kari lives in Chicago, and grew up in Naperville. Queen Kari is the daughter of Sharon and the late Brian McClowry. She has two brothers and five sisters. 

The Queen’s court includes Kelly Lyden, who lives in Mt. Greenwood and is a Chicago Police Officer; Casey Doherty, a law student at DePaul University who lives in Chicago; Kathleen Murphy, a student at Lewis University in Lemont, from Orland Park; and Emily Daniels, an occupational therapist at the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab in Chicago, from Evergreen Park. 

Queen Kari and her court will reign over the 65th Annual Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday, March 14, downtown, beginning at noon at Columbus and Balboa. The day’s festivities will begin at 9 a.m., when the local Plumbers Union 130 will dye the Chicago River green.