St. Patrick's Day Parade in Raleigh, North Carolina

St. Patrick's Day is a day of great festivities for Americans, even those whose ancestors never set foot near Ireland. With a combination of a heavy mix of Irish and people who love to have a great time, the St. Patrick's Day parade in Raleigh, North Carolina, is always great fun for the whole family. This year was no exception.

The Irish are alive and well in Raleigh, NC, as was demonstrated on Saturday, March 15, for the annual St. Patrick's Day parade. The parade began to sunny skies at Cabarrus in Raleigh, trekked throughout the downtown area, and ended at Moore Square. The sun and recent warm temperatures started the parade off to a beautiful start, and the streets were swarming with people watching the parade. Children and adults alike had to find seats quite early in order to see the parade, despite the rather lengthy parade route.

Threat of storms somewhat diminished the festivities at Moore Square following the parade, but not by much. Children's games and bands turned Moore Square into a blizzard of activity. Naturally, the predominant color in both the parade and the festivities was green, and adults were free to partake of that honored Irish pastime: drinking.

Someone must have pointed out that green beer is more fun to look at than it is to consume (it always struck me that it appeared that one was drinking pond water instead of an alcoholic beverage), so there was considerably less of that than there may have been in previous years. I've heard, though, that many of the local pubs plan to serve green beer tonight, on St. Patrick's Day, so maybe it was just that the vendors wanted to wait until the actual day, rather than sully the meaning of the green beer by serving it on a weekday rather than on the celebrated holiday?

According to the official website 3,500 vendors showed up this year. In order to be posted on the website, sponsors needed to donate at least $200. Two sponsors did this. There were three sponsors donating at least $300. With this help, the parade was a chilly success, though not so chilly as last year. Photos of the parade will be shown at the website. Four have already been posted for this year's parade. As can be seen on that website, the Irish Wheaton Terriers of last year were out and about again. These fuzzy green dogs looked spiffy in their Irish attire, and most seemed very pleased to be able to join in the fun.

Overall, despite the poorer weather in the afternoon, the Raleigh St. Patrick's Day parade was a success. Well attended and lots of fun, everyone who attended had a blast. I know we'll be there next year!