The Walking Man himself.
Photo credit - Gettnerman/Flickr (via reporting by Chicago Block Club.)
On Dec. 11, 2022, Chicago said goodbye to one of its most enduring characters. The Walking Man has passed on.
In his life, Joseph Kromelis emerged as a fixture of River North, Streeterville, and the Loop for over 40 years. While the city changed, his style stayed the same: thick long hair, well-groomed mustache, slacks, and a smart sport coat over an undershirt.
Most noteworthy was his ubiquity. He walked. A lot. Seemingly without end or goal, and with no set path for decades.
Also referred to as “The Walking Dude,” he was remarkable in the most simple and least fancy definition of “remarkable:" his presence was “worthy of remark.” His paradoxical consistent-yet-irregular presence made him a legend of office water cooler talk.
“Hey, have you ever seen that guy?”
“What guy?”
“You know, thick hair, wears a sport coat with a white undershirt”
“Oh, yeah yeah, the guy who's always walking?”
Another person at the office overhears. “Oh, are you talking about walking guy?”
”Did you see him!?” A fourth person delights. “That’s good luck!”
His presence was noteworthy, but it does not feel right to call him a local celebrity. He was not after fame. He wasn’t discernibly after anything more than a good walk. The Walking Man’s path was freeform, liberated from the regular commuter’s day-to-day pedestrian traffic patterns and train timetables. His perpetual motion, and its lack of apparent explanation, stirred the curiosity of the Chicagoans who soak in their city’s minutia. A Facebook group was formed for sharing Walking Man sightings and general appreciation. Before then, I recall a morning news TV show sharing “Walking Dude” sightings in the 2000s when social media was in its infancy and cell phone cameras made everything look like Bigfoot footage.
According to his family, Joseph got by as a street peddler. He tried factory work and didn’t like it. He spent most of his wandering years living in an apartment near Lincoln Park. At some point between 2012 and 2014, the apartment building was converted into luxury condos. He was offered places to stay with family out-of-state in Michigan, but he “chose” the streets of Chicago. (It’s currently unclear [to me] if he had sought housing support through the City of Chicago and non-profit resources.)
His fortunes took a turn for the worse once living on the streets. After making a living as a peddler without incident for several decades, he was beaten with a baseball bat by a stranger in May 2016. (The reporting on his hospitalization led to the first public knowledge of his real name and background confirmed by his family.) Then on May 25th of 2022, he was set on fire while sleeping on Lower Wacker, with third-degree burns covering more than 50% of his body. He was admitted in critical condition, then upgraded to “fair” on July 1 despite doubts about recovery.
Kromelis was discharged from the hospital on Sept. 23, after 121 days of care and with a long road to recovery ahead. He died on Dec. 11.
A week after his passing, Lori Lightfoot announced the "You Name a Snowplow” community contest.
The contest just wrapped its first of two phases. During the first phase, the city collected 20,000 potential snowplow names through an online form. The collected names will then be winnowed down to a lean list of 50 candidates for online polling. Voting begins Jan. 15 and runs through to Jan. 30. Six snowplows will receive the most-voted nom de plumes.
I normally relish the opportunity to dream up the cleverest (or enjoyably least clever) names for these competitions. Even if my proposed name failed to make the cut, there’s the consolation of banding together like-minded people to vote for a dark horse candidate, like Ulster County’s “I Voted” alien spider sticker.
Instead of jamming the words “snow” or “plow” into every possible phrase, I propose we honor one of our own by naming a snowplow after The Walking Man (or Dude, if you prefer) Joseph Kromelis.
For this to happen, I have two asks:
1.) I ask for council members in charge of this contest to include at least one Joseph Kromelis/Walking Man-themed option on the final ballot. You can take your words to Lori and Streets and Sanitation on Twitter.
2.) I ask for your vote towards honoring Kromelis in the upcoming snowplow-naming election, beginning Jan. 15. (This post will be updated with a link when voting opens.)
In naming a plow after Kromelis, we would honor the spirit of Chicago flowing through the people you see in the streets every single day. The Walking Man is part of the people’s history of Chicago, recorded by the public and honoring the unique lives only possible in this city.
It’s the Chicago culture created by its population, outside of city government and commerce. He was one of the many proud Chicagoans who choose to live their stories here, despite an increased cost-of-living and endless real estate development uprooting lives. Given how hostile the city’s policies have grown towards the working class, it’s a small miracle he sustained himself as a peddler for decades in our city.
I don’t wish to risk mythologizing or reshaping a legacy. This is about naming a plow, not proposing canonization. Instead, I ask you to help imagine Chicago’s best future: next year, in the first week of February, when we haven't seen the sun in 20 days and are bracing for the third polar thunder-blizzard of the season, who would you like to run into?
Maybe you’ll see “Kathy Plowsterman,” surely capable of brightening up a gray day.
Maybe you’ll see “Da’ Plow,” still decorated with Bears gear like when it debuted back in December.
“Snowy McSnowplow” is a distinct possibility.
But maybe…
Maybe you’ll spot “Snowseph Plowmelis - The Salting Dude.”
That’s good luck, and a remarkable reminder that, even in the city’s harshest conditions, Chicagoans can take care of their own.
If not otherwise credited, photos are from the Chicago Sun-Times and Rich Hein. I do not have the rights to use these photos for professional publication.
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