NYC ready to renew a tradition and show its Irish spirit at St. Patrick's Day parade
Irish eyes are getting ready to smile on Manhattan — for the St. Patrick’s Day parade, stepping off Thursday at 11 a.m.
The parade, a New York City tradition since 1762, typically draws 100,000 participants and 2 million spectators who line Fifth Avenue, according to organizers’ past estimates.
This year, the parade starts at East 44th Street and ends at East 79th.
And a Mass will be celebrated at St. Patrick's Cathedral from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
In addition to Fifth Avenue, which will be closed from 42nd to 86th streets, there are closures planned elsewhere near the route, including parts of Madison, Vanderbilt, Park and Sixth avenues in Midtown Manhattan and on the Upper East Side.
Citing the holiday, the Long Island Rail Road is temporarily banning alcoholic beverages — from 12:01 a.m. on Thursday until 5 a.m. on Friday — "an effort to maintain orderly travel," the LIRR said in a tweet posted late Wednesday morning.
Marchers scheduled to attend include Mayor Eric Adams, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell, Gov. Kathy Hochul, as well as dozens of marching bands, fraternal organizations and schools. These include delegations from Connetquot, Amityville, Seaford, Uniondale, Hicksville high schools, Northport, the police departments of Suffolk and Nassau counties, Our Lady of Peace in Lynbrook, St. Anthony’s in Melville, Suffolk firefighters, the Irish American Society of Nassau Suffolk & Queens, various Nassau chapters of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and the Sewanhaka school district.
In 2020, the parade was the first major New York City parade canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic — presaging cancellations of numerous other parades and events in the city and across the United States later that year and in 2021.
Jokingly calling himself Mayor O’Adams, Adams presided over a ceremony Wednesday afternoon at Bowling Green to hoist an Irish flag in honor of the holiday.
"We’re feeling our Irish spirit today," Adams said.
"Two years ago, we saw something that we thought would never occur: we saw our parade not take place here in the city — something that we understood for so many years, a march through the city to show the Irish pride, and we’re saying that we’re back: bigger, better, stronger than ever. It shows out resiliency in the spirit of St. Patrick."
Old Bethpage house fire ... Regulating lithium ion batteries ... Christmas to remember for family ... Renovating Greenport carousel
Old Bethpage house fire ... Regulating lithium ion batteries ... Christmas to remember for family ... Renovating Greenport carousel