The city of Manchester will be hosting its 18th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. At noon on Sunday, March 27th, the parade will begin at the corner of Elm Street and continue down through Central Street in downtown Manchester. The parade will be the city’s largest community event of the year with an estimated 70,000 attendees and participants.

The parade includes all types of participants from floats, to bagpipers, high school bands, and marchers. This year, St. Anselm’s very own Irish Club will be constructing a float that will be featured in the parade. This year’s grand marshal will be Mr. Gerry Holleran. The Irish Club’s advisor Fr. Jerome O.S.B. was the parade’s Grand Marshal back in 2011.

The St. Patrick’s Day Parade has been a great representation of both the Irish-American heritage and the city of Manchester. This year’s parade will team up with New Horizons to collect non-perishable foods during the parade. All the food collected will go towards the city’s local food pantries. Along with the food collection, the Shamrock Shuffle takes place on the 27th. The Shamrock Shuffle (which is sold out) will take place before the parade at 11:15 and will have around 300 participants.

The parade is a rain or shine event. However, if there is inclement weather, the Shamrock Shuffle will be postponed to Saturday March 30. Transportation and other event information will be readily available at a later time on the parade’s website at www.stpatsnh.com. After the event, attendees can go out and enjoy the surrounding Irish pubs such as Murphy’s Tap Room or J.P O’Sullivans.

The St. Patrick’s Day Parade is a celebration of the Irish-American culture and is extremely important to the city of Manchester. Students are encouraged to attend the parade and see what the city of Manchester has to offer. Let us go out and support the Irish Club in the parade and take part in this joyous celebration.