Though usually held the Sunday before St. Patrick's Day, one day after the downtown parade, many residents consider this the city's real parade. Stretching down Columbus and Balbo Drives up till Buckingham Fountain, the procession is not as infiltrated by politicians and displays a more authentic ethnic, neighborhood pride. In fact, this parade began spontaneously in 1979 when a neighborhood group pushed a baby carriage adorned with the Irish flag down the street. From these inauspicious roots, it has grown to become the nation's largest neighborhood St. Patrick's Parade.