All of New York City’s Saint Patrick’s Day parades
Photo via Richie S/Flickr
Some cities are lucky to have a single St. Patrick’s Day parade, but New York City is blessed with a whopping nine parades dedicated to the holiday. While Saint Patrick’s Day is not until March 17, three communities have already celebrated: Staten Island held its annual parade on Forest Avenue and Queens held its 43rd Saint Paddy’s parade in Rockaway, as well as its LGBT-friendly St. Pat’s For All in Woodside. No worries, though: There are still six other St. Patrick’s Day Parades coming up, including NYC’s biggest, in Manhattan.
Photo by GerritsenBeach.net/Flickr
1. The Bronx
Sunday, March 11
East Tremont and Lafayette Avenues
Up in the Bronx, Throggs Neck has had an annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade since 1998, the only official holiday celebration in the borough. Like its Brooklyn equivalents, the Bronx parade boasts a much more local flavor than the far larger Manhattan parade. This year’s parade Grand Marshals, Peader and Eileen Tierney, have lived in Throggs Neck since 1989 and together ran The Throggs Neck Clipper for two decades.
2. Manhattan
Saturday, March 17, 11am
5th Avenue between 44th and 79th Streets
New York’s first Saint Patrick’s Day Celebration began on March 17, 1762 – 14 years before the Declaration of Independence was signed, its website proudly states. That original St. Paddy’s Parade was put on by a variety of Irish ex-patriots and “Irish military members serving with the British Army,” who were stationed in New York. At the time of New York’s first St. Patrick’s Parade, the color green had been banned in Ireland, adding additional significance to participants’ ability to flaunt their greenery in NYC. While the initial few years of NYC’s St. Patrick’s DayParade were organized by military units, since 1992 the Parade has been run by the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Inc. corporation.
This year’s Grand Marshal will be Loretta Brennan Glucksman, co-founder of NYU’s Glucksman Ireland House and Chair Emeritus of the American Ireland Fund. Can’t make it there in-person? The parade will be broadcast live on NBCNewYork.com beginning at 11am.
3. Brooklyn
Sunday, March 18, 12:45pm
14th Street and Prospect Park West
This will be the Brooklyn St. Patrick’s Day Parade’s 43rd year. Formed in 1975, the Brooklyn Parade broke off from the original Manhattan contingent to honor not only Ireland’s patron, St. Patrick, but also to remember the Battle of Brooklyn and pay tribute to Irish contributions to Brooklyn, the Parade’s site decrees. In comparison to the city celebration, Brooklyn’s is quite a bit more accessible and laid back, with no barricades and a light police presence.
4. Bayside
10am Saturday, March 24
39-27 Bell Boulevard
Bayside is getting its very own Saint Patrick’s Day Parade this year. The parade will run from 36th to 41st Avenues, passing a variety of Irish businesses along the way. Some 20 community groups will be participating in the event’s inaugural celebration, QNS reported.
5. Bay Ridge
Sunday, March 25, 1pm
The parade was “the brainchild of the late Gene Reilly,” according to its website. Reilly formerly owned the Lief Erickson Pub on 5th Avenue, which shuttered for two years before reopening. Founded in 1994, this year marks the Bay Ridge Saint Patrick’s Day Parade’s 25th anniversary. Since its inception, it’s boasted a hyperlocal feel, with many Bay Ridgeites honored on the day of the festivities. This year, the list of honorees is dominated by community volunteers.
6. Gerritsen Beach
Sunday, March 31, 1pm
Whitney and Gerritsen Avenues
At Brookyln’s edge, near its southernmost point, Gerritsen Beach sits and sports its very own Saint Paddy’s Parade. Begun in 2010, The Gerritsen Beach St. Patrick’s Day Parade has, in addition to its Grand Marshall, an Irishman and Irish Woman of the year position. The Gerritsen Beach Parade is both smaller and younger than its Bay Ridge counterpart.
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