St Patrick's Day Parade in NYC

Although I will be in Chicago this week, I was wondering what and where the annual event takes place.

Has anyone gone to previous parades and what are they like? I am looking forward to the Chicago one as it too is supposed to be crazy!

St Patrick's Day Parade in NYC

Duh....Now I remembered to Google it....

Never mind about the details...has anyone been to the past events?

St Patrick's Day Parade in NYC

I avoid it like the plague. I think most natives do, unless they are of Irish heritage. Most of the people I%26#39;ve seen there are from out of town- rather like New Year%26#39;s Eve in Times Square. Quite frankly, both of them seem like amateur night.

Going to a real Irish bar where there%26#39;s music is a whole other matter.

Yes. Lots of men in blue (and tartans). ;)

I remember being in Chicago one year. They put green dye in the river and there was also lots of green beer being sold. euuwwwww and yuk.

www.chicagostpatsparade.com/river-dye.html

I have marched every year for more than twenty years. I am NOT marching this year, as the parade committee was so obsessed about marching on the 17th that it entirely ignored the fact that the 17th is not St. Patrick%26#39;s Day at all because this year it falls in Holy Week. A festive parade in Holy Week, while no attention is paid to Patrick%26#39;s actual feast day (the 14th, by the way), under the auspices of a parade committee that justified its actions for years by claiming the parade was a ';Catholic, religious'; celebration is infamous. I wish everyone else should ignore this secular sham as well.

As for the parade itself, it is very old-fashioned. It is made up of bands and marching societies. Costumes and silly hoopla are frowned upon. There are no floats, and indeed no wheeled vehicles of any kind allowed in the parade.

%26lt;%26lt;I avoid it like the plague. %26gt;%26gt;

me too!

I went one year and was standing around 47th. It was a complete zoo and full of drunk bystanders. Ever since then - I stay away. I usually don%26#39;t go out that day at all since bars get so packed and some bars up their prices.

If GWB is not going, I think you have your answer. BTW, I marched in it for 6 years in the middle to late 1950s.

Well, if GWB doesn%26#39;t approve, I won%26#39;t be there next year!! I had a feeling it wasn%26#39;t something locals would do...much like NYE in TS.

I also remember all the controversy a few years ago when they did not allow gays to march...not a good thing!

I am looking forward to seeing the green river though. I have heard so much about it from SOs co workers who are all going, but at this point, I think it will end up like NYC%26#39;s. :(

Actually, north of the grandstands in the %26#39;60s, it has become quite tame with primarily families. It is far more common to find grandparents and little kids running around the sidewalks, many of them in Irish knit sweaters. Over on Second Avenue on through midnight, that%26#39;s another story.

meh - the only parade where its acceptable for men to wear skirts. Lots of people getting Sh!t-faced...plus they all then get on the subways and expel their excesses in the stations, etc. Amateurish for sure. I used to work on 5th Ave so seeing a little bit of the parade was cool. The bagpipes, etc. It is a very large parade!

this is the first year in 4 that I havent been to Chicago for their celebration/s (housewares trade show this week every year)

I cannot imagine how they dye that river green, but I have the pix to prove it! Its a huge deal there - probably bigger than here, if that%26#39;s possible. The weather was great last year and there were tons of blonde women in tiny tops and green boas, etc. It really is a different world there.

they have several parades and it seems I%26#39;m always in a cab from O%26#39;hare on the day of one of them, but its never much of a problem.