Hometown guy Mike Collins poised to serve as grand marshal
Mike Collins is more Irish than not. Fifty-nine percent, according to DNA testing he had done not long ago.
After three terms as Plainfield’s mayor, which came on the tail of three terms as a village trustee, Collins retired from local government in 2021. He said the time had come for new ideas.
“I thought they needed to make sure they had another voice,” he said in a recent conversation.
That doesn’t mean he was finished being involved in the town where he has lived for all of his 77 years. His newest title is grand marshal of this year’s Hometown Irish Parade. Collins is pleased to fill the role for the March 12 procession through the village core.
Plainfield was a fairly small town when he was growing up in the neighborhood northwest of Route 30 and Renwick Road – which was a gravel thoroughfare back then.
He attended St. Mary Immaculate School from kindergarten through eighth grade, and went to Plainfield High School, now known as Central Campus, for the rest of his local education. He recalls one particularly big event happening when he was a teen.
“I got to see John Kennedy go through town, when he was running for office,” Collins said.
Kennedy appeared at the old Plains Theater, a movie house that stood on Illinois Street, where the fairly recent addition to Plainfield United Methodist Church is now.
Over the past several decades, Collins has watched the village transform from a small town surrounded by farms, with three public schools, to a bustling suburb in a school district that now counts 31 campuses – one of them named in memory of that one-time president who came to town as a young senator aiming for higher office.
“When I was a kid, Plainfield was 1,600 people. And now it’s 48,000,” Collins said. “You knew everybody. And you knew everybody’s car.”
Large or small, the village holds a secure spot in Collins’ heart.
“It starts out with the people, and then it goes on to the businesses,” he said of the community’s appeal for him, adding that local elected officials also contribute to its vitality and functioning.
Collins has visited the land where most of his ancestors were born. He said Ireland, where he has traveled twice, is wonderful.
“All the magazines are right. You always wear a light jacket. It’s always green, because it’s a little misty,” he said.
The grand marshal, and the parade committee, are hopeful that any mists on parade day will be warm and welcoming. Just like Mike Collins’ hometown.
