St Patrick’s Day brings boisterous parades and celebrations to New York
The New York parade dates to 1762 – 14 years before the US Declaration of Independence.
St Patrick’s Day, the annual celebration of all things Irish, has been marked across the United States with boisterous parades and festivities.
School marching bands and traditional Irish pipe and drum ensembles ambled down Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue with uniformed delegations from the police and fire departments in New York City, which hosts one of the nation’s largest and oldest parades.
As a light morning rain fell, the rolling celebration made its way north past designer shops and St Patrick’s Cathedral, a stunning Neo Gothic landmark that is the seat of the Catholic Archdiocese of New York.
Mayor Eric Adams donned a green cap and scarf and waved an Irish flag while Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan greeted marchers wearing a green, white and orange sash – the national colours of Ireland.
“It’s fantastic to be here,” said Ryan Hanlon, vice chairman of the parade’s board of directors.
“We’re getting a little bit of rain at the moment, but as we Irish call it, it’s just liquid sunshine.”
Some 800 miles south in Savannah, thousands of revellers in gaudy green costumes crowded pavements and oak-shaded squares as the South’s largest St Patrick’s Day parade wound through the historic Georgia city.
Children tooted plastic horns and grown-ups raised their beers as pipe and drum bands marched and pick-up trucks towed shamrock-decorated floats.
Major celebrations also kicked off in other American communities, including the resort town of Hot Springs, Arkansas, which claims its 98ft route is the world’s shortest St Patrick’s Day parade.
The waters of the White House fountain were dyed green, a tradition started by President Barack Obama.
Some of the American cities most transformed by Irish immigration held festivities over the weekend.
Chicago, turning its namesake river bright green with dye, celebrated on Saturday.
Boston and Philadelphia held their parades on Sunday.
The parades are meant to commemorate Ireland’s patron saint but have become a celebration of Irish heritage globally since they were initially popularised by Irish immigrant communities to show solidarity in times of discrimination and opposition in the US.
The New York celebration, now in its 264th year, date to 1762 – 14 years before the US Declaration of Independence.
The Savannah parade, meanwhile, marked its 200th anniversary a year ago, tracing its origins to the day Irish immigrants marched to church in 1824.
