St. Patrick’s Day Parade making its return this weekend
By Chris Fortune
Event organizers might be looking for four-leaf clovers ahead of this weekend, as they hope for better luck with the weather for this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
The 38th edition of the parade will begin at 12 p.m. on Saturday, March 16, at Noyes Boulevard and Frederick Avenue, then follow Frederick until the route concludes at Felix and Eighth streets.
Last year’s parade was met with rainy and cold weather, but the chair of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade committee is ready to rebound with better weather this year. As of now, fair and dry weather is expected for Saturday, with temperatures reaching the 60s.
“We don’t want to take anything for granted,” Bob Fitzpatrick said. “Last year, we had some disappointing rain throughout the entire parade. It wasn’t fun for the entrants, and it sure wasn’t fun for the people watching along the side of the road, so we hope for that to be a much better experience this year.”
The St. Joseph branch of the Ancient Order of Hibernians organizes the parade and partners with the Second Harvest Community Food Bank, which receives some of the proceeds. Anyone who wanted to enter a float and participate in the parade paid a $75 entry fee.
“That’s basically how we raise money throughout the year,” he said. “They’re the parade entrants, and we expect to have 35 to 50 or so this year.”
The parade is free to attend, but it will be a family-friendly parade, so alcohol will not be consumed on the floats along the parade route.
“We do encourage plenty of candy to be distributed to people along the parade route, and we hope to see a lot of families,” he said.
Special Olympics Missouri will also hold its 11th annual Shamrock 5K run before the parade at 11:15 a.m., and it will finish at Norty’s Bar & Grill on Frederick Avenue. Fitzpatrick said everyone is welcome to come and enjoy the festivities.
“Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, and we’d sure like to see lots of friends out on parade day,” he said.
