Unleash the Luck of the Irish with Our Comprehensive Guide to St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations Across All Counties!

Unleash the Luck of the Irish with Our Comprehensive Guide to St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations Across All Counties!

Today, Ireland is celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with parades that promise to be bigger and better than ever before. Tens of thousands of visitors from around the world are joining in the festivities as crowds of spectators line the streets, hoping the forecasted showers will hold off. Marching bands, musicians, sports clubs, dancers, and community groups are streaming past in the parades, which are founded on traditional Irish roots with Celtic folklore and the Vikings among the themes. Grand marshals from America, Australia, and the Netherlands are making this a truly international affair.

Hordes of children, performers, and local celebrities are taking part in the parades, and no doubt there will be buckets of face paint, tricolour wigs, and leprechaun hats. To help you catch some of the biggest parades and fun events in your area, we have compiled a list of the essential times and spots.

In Dublin, the Republic of Ireland Women’s National Football Team has been chosen as the Grand Marshal for the 2023 National St. Patrick’s Day Parade. With half a million spectators expected to line this year’s route, the Parade will run from 12 pm to 2 pm. It will feature seven creative pageants, 10 transitional showpiece performances, and 15 marching bands from across Ireland, North America, and Canada. The theme for this year’s parade is ‘We are One,’ and it will start from Parnell square at 12 noon, proceeding down O’Connell street, over O’Connell Bridge, and through the south side of the city, ending at the Cuffe st/Kevin St junction.

American actor Patrick Duffy will be the International Guest of Honour at this year’s parade, and it’s actually his birthday today too. His grandfather emigrated from Ireland to America in the 1920s. Born in Townsend, Montana in 1949, he got his big break in Man From Atlantis before achieving global success playing Bobby Ewing in the much-loved CBS prime-time American soap opera Dallas. Duffy has made the trip to Ireland along with tens of thousands of international visitors from Ireland’s global diaspora of over 80 million, seeking to connect with their roots and to sample Irish arts and culture.

Every year, ‘St Patrick’ leads out the creative performance section of the parade with his instantly recognizable mitre and gold crozier. This year, he will be joined by Genevieve Keane, a student at the Ursuline Convent, Thurles, who created Acantha, a Celtic creation inspired by St. Patrick and the coming of Christianity. With grand marshals from around the world, traditional Irish roots, and plenty of local talent, this year’s St. Patrick’s Day celebrations promise to be unforgettable.

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An unconventional costume made from an assortment of discarded materials has won the best Cultural Kouture award at the 2022 Junk Kouture World Final in Abu Dhabi. The outfit was made from wool from a neighbouring farmer’s sheep, an old potato sack, curtains, discarded Donegal yarn wool, old staircase carpet, her mum’s wedding dress pearls, old dresses and costume jewellery.

A new opening pageant featuring a collaboration between Macnas, Junk Kouture, discovery Gospel Choir and various community groups is set to debut this year. Other pageant companies, such as Dublin Pride, Spraoi, Artastic, and the Inishowen Carnival, will also participate, along with some Disney friends. Buí Bolg and Kia have collaborated on a new pageant titled ‘The Future That Moves Us’, featuring an interactive augmented reality element in the parade.

Cork’s parade will feature 3,500 participants, 55 groups, live music, street performances, and parties. The theme for Cork’s parade is ‘a Century of stories’, and it will run from 1 pm to 3 pm, starting at South Mall and proceeding down St Patrick’s Street to Merchant’s Quay. Those unable to attend can watch a livestream on the corkcity.ie page, which will start at 12.45 pm.

Cork City Council has announced the Sanctuary Runners as the Grand Marshal for the 2023 parade. The Sanctuary Runners is a five-year-old organization that brings the local community together with migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees through running and swimming. Over 100 members, representing countries from all over the world, will lead the parade.

Graham Clifford, chief executive of the Sanctuary Runners, expressed his delight at being asked to be Grand Marshals and stated that the organization believes in positive energy, which they will bring to the streets of Cork. Irish Sign language interpretation will be available near the new grandstand location on Patrick’s Street, opposite the Savoy. The zone reserved for wheelchair users, less mobile visitors, and those who may need more space around them to enjoy the parade will be near Dunnes Stores.

Get ready to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with parades and festivities all over Ireland! Here’s a quick guide to what’s happening in some of the major towns and cities:

Limerick:

Limerick is celebrating with a “Discover Limerick” theme that pays tribute to the city’s Viking roots. The parade will feature about 1,500 participants including Buí Bolg, Lumen Street Theatre, and the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. The parade will start on O’Connell Avenue/Roden Street junction at noon, then march down O’Connell Street before finishing on Henry Street.

Kilkenny:

Kilkenny’s medieval streets will be the setting for the parade’s “Legends and Stories” theme, which celebrates Celtic myths and legends as well as great Irish writers. The parade will start at 1:30 pm and will be led by celebrity chef Edward Hayden as the Grand Marshal. It will follow a route from John Street to Rose Inn Street, the Parade, High Street, and finish at the Market Yard.

Galway:

Galway’s parade will start at 11:30 am and last for an hour. It will be led by two Grand Marshals, Connacht Rugby’s Director of Rugby, Australian Andy Friend, and 11-year-old Saoirse Ruane, who has raised millions of euro for cancer research. Over 50 local groups and more than 1,500 participants will take part. The Bádóirí an Chladaigh will also light up their Galway Hookers with its annual stunning greening at the Claddagh Basin alongside other landmarks across the city.

Donegal:

Donegal will be ringing to the sounds of pipes and drums as parades take place all over the county. The Letterkenny parade will feature live music at various venues from 1:30 pm, followed by the main parade full of dancers, gymnasts, and sporting greats kicking off at 3 pm. The parade in Donegal Town will also begin at 3 pm, with free admission on the day to the family fun day at Donegal Railway Museum.

Sligo:

Sligo’s parade starts at 12 pm and runs down Temple St, Adelaide St, Wine St, Quay St, Fish Quay, O’Connell St, Grattan St, Castle St, Teeling St, and finishes at the Mercy Primary School on Pearse Road. There will be a kids’ disco and live music in O’Connell Street after the parade, with lots more fun besides.

Cavan:

Comedian Kevin McGahern and his dance partner Laura Nolan will be the Grand Marshalls for Cavan’s town parade, which begins at 12:30 pm. The county’s oldest parade in Kilnaleck begins at 3 pm while in Ballyjamesduff, the proceedings start at 4 pm.

Monaghan:

Monaghan town’s parade this year is themed “Pedal Power for the Future” as the border county turns green in more ways than one. The parade will feature a host of local community groups and businesses who have designed colourful floats and routines to make the occasion and begins at 3 pm.

So, whether you’re in Limerick, Kilkenny, Galway, Donegal, Sligo, Cavan, or Monaghan, there’s sure to be plenty of craic and festivities to enjoy this St. Patrick’s Day!

St. Patrick’s Day is a big celebration in Ireland, with parades and festivals taking place across the country. In Belfast, the parade begins at the City Hall and will showcase the city’s rich musical heritage, including punk, pop, and traditional music. In Armagh, where St. Patrick lived, a huge festival will run until March 19, and a community parade will take place on the big day. Enniskillen’s parade will have a Back to the Future theme and feature a De Lorean car and live music. Derry’s parade will focus on the importance of recycling and reusing materials to protect the environment. Strabane and Omagh will host parades with outdoor performances and traditional music. Tony Christie, a legendary singer, will lead the parade in Claremorris, the town his grandparents came from, while Castlebar will host the first sensory-friendly parade. Ballaghaderreen’s parade will encourage people from all over the world to come together and celebrate under the theme “We are One”. Carrick-on-Shannon’s parade will be an early event, starting at 12.30 pm, while Longford’s parade will focus on the importance of sustainability. Tullamore’s parade, celebrating its 40th anniversary, will be led by the Army Band from Athlone.