Thu 3/17 @ 1:04PM
Ok, listen: just because this year’s St Patrick’s Day Parade is the first in three years (it was the first major event cancelled in 2019 due to the pandemic) does NOT mean you should try to get three year’s worth of drunk — especially not before the parade steps off at its usual time of 1:04pm from the corner of West 18th and Superior. Yes, we know bars open at some unholy hour we can’t even think about on this day. But still …
The parade theme this year is Ireland’s Scenic Coastlines. But the marchers you’ll see will be similar to every other year: lots of Irish dance schools and high school bands, police and firefighters, Irish-American clubs, labor unions, local organizations ranging from the Cleveland Public Library, Cleveland Metroparks to Burning River Roller Derby and the Cleveland Dragon Boat Association, businesses such as Great Lake Brewing Company, and our favorites— animals: Horses! Irish setters! Irish wolfhounds! Alpacas!
The Grand Marshall is Thomas F. McManamon Jr. who marched in his first parade in 1954 as a seven-year-old. His father was Grand Marshall in 1977. And in a sign of changing times, the “Irish Mother of the Year,” Rita Lally, has only two daughters but has been very active in the Irish arts community. (This used to honor a mother who cranked out a ton of kids, something uncommon today.)
We’ve experienced everything from a blizzard to sweltering summer weather on March 17 but this year, the temperatures are predicted to be a comfortable mid 60s and partly sunny. So it should be a great day! Learn more here.