I was in Lincoln Park near Wilson Avenue on Sunday at the Metro High School reunion picnic when what seemed like tens of thousands of people — many of them dressed to the nines — started streaming in from the Pride Parade, which kicked off in Lake View.

The colorfulness and wildness of parade attendees never ceases to amaze me, and this year was no different. A trio strolled by, and one of them, Prince Ross, caught my attention — and everybody else’s — as we basked in the sun at the picnic.

When I asked Ross and his pals Alonnuh Clay and Scott Franklin how the parade had gone, one thing they mentioned was how family-orientated it is, and how that particular aspect was really important to them. But that’s not all they thought.

“It was beautiful, sexy and loving,” reported Clay.

For more photographs from this year’s Pride Parade, please turn to page TK in this week’s Skyline.

HEAD OF THE CLASS As usual was Lincoln Park High School inclusion on Newsweek magazine’s top 1,600 public high schools in the country list. LPHS ranked 94th in the top 100, and number two statewide. Congrats to the school’s out-going principal, Dr. Bessie Karvelas. She’s a tough act to follow for incoming principal, Mike Boraz, who I hope to find out the scoop on soon.

LEND A HAND The Young Chicago Lakefront (YCL), the 44th Ward Democratic Organization’s group for young professionals, will volunteer from 8 to 10:30 a.m., July 10, at the soup kitchen at St. Vincent DePaul Church, 1010 W. Webster.

Aimee Ramirez, YCL board president, said it’s a “really nice” way to spend a Saturday morning and is open to anyone. Ramirez said since YCL was created almost nine years ago, it always had a community service component.

“This is something that sets us apart from other political groups because we believe that, while Young Chicago Lakefront is primarily a Democratic political organization, our overarching mission is to make a positive impact in the city of Chicago,” said Ramirez. “We try to find many ways in which our members can give back to the city which has given them so much.”

HAPPY GOLD COASTERS Thanks to the efforts of concerned neighbors Walgreens has voluntarily withdrawn its packaged liquor good license application for its store at Divison and Dearborn. I hear that Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), intervened with the company’s powers that be to secure the withdrawal deal.

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES Gene Fisher, executive director of the Diversey Harbor Lakeview Association, read my column last week about visiting South Shore Valley in the 1960s. He called and shared some memories of his own — Fisher also grew up in the neighborhood.

“Shopping in South Shore Valley didn’t have anything to compare with, not Michigan Avenue’s Miracle Mile, or any of the sprawling suburban shopping centers,” Fisher recalled. “The center of our retail universe was 87th Street, starting with the Stineway Drug store on the northeast corner of 87th street and Stony Island, and continuing eastward to reach such gastronomic delights as Mr. Rib and the Seaway deli as well as the numerous ‘mom and pop’ stores that offered an array of the products that we needed in our daily lives. In addition to the usual joys and challenges of our middle class lives, I will always recall some of the unusual events that took place during my South Shore Valley days.”

For instance, Fisher said, the epic 26-inch snowstorm in January, 1967 (the largest blizzard in Chicago’s recorded history), “when my normal half-hour car commute from the loop to 90th Street took more than five hours.

“Our departure from South Shore Valley became unavoidable when we outgrew our house, as our family expanded to include three rapidly growing children and our dog, Scottie,” Fisher said. “But, as you have observed, the memories of my time there continue to endure.”