What are you doing Monday the 17th for St. Patrick’s Day ?? Here’s “Mick’s Picks“ of festivals and parades…..
If you are lucky enough to be in Ireland for this grandest of Irish holidays then nothing can top the week-long events, festivals and parades min Dublin, capped off with the “Big Day” incredible parade. And of course there are festivals, events, and parades all over Ireland during this time.
If you’d like to catch one of these – and you should at least once in your lifetime – Mick’s Custom Irish Tours can put together the best St. Patty’s Day trip you’ve ever dreamt of. Contact us now to start planning for 2015 !
In the US – here are “Mick’s Top 20” across the USA…..
20. Milwaukee, Wisconsin – Just 46 years old this St. Patrick’s Day Parade has become quite popular and is recognized as one of the best in the USA. Traditional parade with elaborate floats, bagpipers, bands, Irish dancers, characters, and entertainers.
19. Scranton, PA – Begun in 1862 the Scranton St. Patrick’s festival is one of the oldest and largest in the US, now drawing over 150,000 attendees.
18. New Haven, Connecticut – The 6th largest such parade in the US , attracting some one million people, this St. Patty’s parade is the biggest event on Connecticut’s Irish calendar. Promoted by The Library of Congress as an “outstanding example of American and Irish folk life.
17. Kansas City, MO. – The K.C. parade begins after a special Gaelic Mass, and is led by a lone bagpiper preceding the mass of floats, bands, and performers, leprechauns, lucky charms, and more.
16. Cleveland, Ohio – An historic event that began in 1867, the Cleveland parade has over 13,000 registered participants, marching, riding on floats, playing in bands, and more. Warm of the superb highlights is the choice of the parade’s Grand Marshall. This honorary title is usually given to a man “in his senior years” who has contributed significantly to Irish culture in the Cleveland area.
15. Dallas, TX – Like everything in Texas this parade is BIG. It’s the largest such parade in the American Southwest with more than a hundred floats and over 100,000 revelers that parade along Greenville Avenue. This celebration is said to rival those in Boston, Chicago, and New York.
14. New Orleans, Louisiana – In a city that knows how to throw a parade – and a party – New Orleans offers one of the largest and oldest celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day in the US. The city’s port claims to be the largest port of entry for Irish immigrants in the southern USA. Begun in 1809, this event has a distinct influence of Mardi Gras – which conclude just a month or less before revving up for St. Patrick’s. The event is a week-long fest that is a unique sort-of Irish-Italian celebration of both St. Patrick’s Day and St. Joseph’s Day, with a bit of Mardi Gras flavor. [It IS New Orleans ! ]
13. Denver, Colorado – Moving west of the Mississippi River – the Denver parade adds a Western flair to the Irish-themed fun that includes horses and stagecoaches. This is Denver’s biggest annual parade, and attracts more than 200,000 viewers, and 10,000 marchers, floats, Irish cancers and music, taking a circular route through the heart of downtown.
12. Philadelphia, PA – Back to the eastern US, Philadelphia boasts the 2nd oldest St. Patty’s Day parade in the country – second only to New York City’s. Started in 1771 the parade attracts about a half-a-million spectators and marchers, with the spectators clad in elaborate green costumery. This parade had a different theme each year such as “A decade of Remembrance”, with special awards given for the group that best exemplifies the spirit of the parade, plus awards such as Most Outstanding Float, Most Outstanding Dance Group, etc.
11. Atlanta, GA. – This Festival and Parade is a family event that concentrates on children and family fun. Included with all the traditional floats, bands, bagpipes, dancers, and marchers, are clowns, drill teams, crafts booths and the like, as well as two stages for live Irish entertainment. The Atlanta fest has been a popular success for over 130 years. The parade, which winds along Peachtree Street in downtown, is the highlight of Atlanta’s St. Patrick’s Day festival.
10. Savannah, GA. – Staying in the American South…. Savannah’s St. Patrick’s festival HAS BEGUN for 2014. Annually the events last for about two weeks before St. Patrick’s Day leading up to the parade. This parade consistently makes the “top 10” lists for St. Patrick’s Day events, where even the city’s fountains are dyed green with an environmentally-friendly dye for the occasion. The three-hour parade takes place in Savannah’s Historic Park District, and has religious and cultural events celebrating the town’s cultural heritage, plus the actual Greening of the Fountain in Forsyth Park, the Celtic Cross Mass and Ceremony, and much more.
9. Washington, D.C. – Recognized as one of the most important St Patrick’s Day celebrations in the USA, the Washington DC celebration is known as the Nation’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. It’s a two-and-a-half hour event featuring floats, marching bands, pipe bands, military, police, and fire departments all of which join together to honor America’s rich Irish culture.
8. Dublin, Ohio –There are actually 10 cities named Dublin in the US, but this one embraces its Irish legacy with the most fervor. One of the original founders of the city, John Shields, is credited with naming the city for his birthplace in Ireland. With a population of just 40,000, Dublin, Ohio’s parade is one of the smaller ones on this list, but makes up for it in length and enthusiasm. The mile-long parade has about 100 floats, bands, pipers, and performers, and draws more than 20,000 spectators. One of its most popular and unique features in the Grand Leprechaun.
– Moving out to the West Coast, there are four superior St. Patrick’s Day events: Seattle, San Francisco, and San Diego, and Kells, Portland, Oregon…..
7. Seattle, WA. – Labelled by CNN as one of the “Five best places to get your green on”, the Seattle St Patrick’s Day Celebration is the largest and oldest St Patrick’s Day celebration in the Northwest USA. The parade’s route – the high-point of Seattle’s Irish Week festivities – is marked out by Irish revelers with a mile-long green strip. Also just as popular as the parade during this week-long celebration is the Irish Festival showcasing Irish films, Celtic handicrafts, non-stop Irish music, Irish language workshops, and performances by champion local step-dancers.
6. San Diego, CA – Held in the city’s fabulous Balboa Park and attracting thousands every year, this is one of the top 20 Saint Patrick’s Day events in the USA. San Diego’s St Patrick’s Day Parade and Irish Festival is one of the largest single-day events in San Diego. Truly “Californian in flavor, the parade features more than 120 entries with everything from marching bands, floats, clowns, equestrian entries, bagpipe contingents, dancing groups, drill teams, roller skaters, and antique cars, to the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, representatives from Ireland, and the currently reigning Miss Colleen and Smiling Irishman.
5. San Francisco, CA – never at a loss for any reason to celebrate or hold a parade, The City By the Bay gladly jumps on any holiday that encourages partying. This festival and parade is the largest such event west of the Mississippi, attracting over 100,000 visitors each year…. and that’s been 163 years dating back to 1852. Thousands of participants join in to honor Irish culture including everything from Irish singing to traditional poetry along with more than a hundred of the traditional floats, Irish dance troupes and marching bands. When the parade itself is done, the celebration is just getting going — pick any bar that suits you (bonus points for Irish pubs like Durty Nelly’s and Blarney Stone).
4. Kells, Portland, Oregon – Not actually a “city” event this 3-day celebration is put on by one of the absolute best, most popular, and authentic Irish pubs on America’s West Coast – Kells. The party is almost non-stop leading up to – and through- St. Patrick’s Day, with live Irish music, bands and entertainers that including many ‘name’ acts, plus Irish step dancers, traditional Irish dancers, bag-pipers, and all the craic of a rollicking Irish pub at St. Patty’s Day.
And the Top Three…..
3. Chicago, IL The most renowned feature is the surreal sight of the Chicago River turned green with environmentally-friendly green dye for the occasion. This St. Patrick’s celebrationrunning since 1843]; so popular million visitors]; – on Saturday March 15th (like several other US parades this year).
2. Manhattan, New York – Designated a “Top 20 Event” in the US, New York’s is one of the oldest and largest such parades in the world. With New York’s long and storied Irish history, this famous event celebrates Irish culture in America and the Irish Catholic faith. The New York St. Patrick’s day parade was first introduced by Irish soldiers in the British army in 1762, and now showcases more than 300,000 marchers, and 3-million spectators.
1. BOSTON, MA – One of America’s most Irish cities, Boston boasts 25 percent of its population as being of Irish descent. The annual St Patrick’s Day Parade has been going strong for literally hundreds of years – in fact – Boston lays claim to having held the very first St. Patrick’s Day parade – even before the one in Dublin, Ireland. Now one of the Top 20 such events, it is also one of the largest, attracting more than 850,000 fans each year…. a parade overflowing with floats, bagpipers, and marching bands, and the abundance of Irish pubs in Boston adds to the attraction of this event.
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