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Event
Information:
The St
Patrick's Day parade in New York
City starts at 11.00am, first marches up Fifth Avenue
past St. Patrick's Cathedral at 50th
Street and then up past the American
Irish Historical Society at 83rd and
the Metropolitan Museum of Art at
83rd Street to 86th Street, where
the parade usually finishes mid
afternoon.
In the
USA, the Irish Society of Boston
organised what was not only the
first Saint Patrick's Day Parade in
the colonies but the first recorded
Saint Patrick's Day Parade in the
world on 18 March 1737. (The first
parade in Ireland did not occur
until 1931 in Dublin.) This parade
in Boston involved Irish immigrant
workers marching to make a political
statement about how they were not
happy with their low social status
and their inability to obtain jobs
in America. New York's first Saint
Patrick's Day Parade was held on 17
March 1762 by Irish soldiers in the
British Army. The first celebration
of Saint Patrick's Day in New York
City was held at the Crown and
Thistle Tavern in 1766, the parades
were held as political and social
statements because the Irish
immigrants were being treated
unfairly. In 1780, General George
Washington, who commanded soldiers
of Irish descent in the Continental
Army, allowed his troops a holiday
on 17 March “as an act of solidarity
with the Irish in their fight for
independence." This event became
known as The St. Patrick's Day
Encampment of 1780.
Irish patriotism in New York City
continued to soar and the parade in
New York City continued to grow.
Irish aid societies were created
like Friendly Sons of St. Patrick
and the Hibernian Society and they
marched in the parades too. Finally
when many of these aid societies
joined forces in 1848 the parade
became not only the largest parade
in the United States but one of the
largest in the world.
Local
Weather:
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