Last Wednesday, March 17, the annual celebration of St Patrick's day took place and gathered hundreds of thousands of participants and possibly a million more sidewalk gawkers. For the first time in my 8 years stint as a New-Yorker, I got to see the most famous St Patrick's Day Parade in the country!
Something immediately caught my eye: the throngs of Police and Fire Departments marchers. What's with the 911 people and parades anyways?
It didn't seem like the smartest move, but I obliged to a meeting with clients located right smack in that area of Manhattan. Stretching from 44th to 86th streets along Fifth ave. on the Upper East Side, the parade painted the city green as shamrocks sprouted on every other person's shirts, hats or nail polish. I anticipated the 5 blocks and 3 avenues walk from the subway station would have to be slower than the usual day-worker prance. I was prepared, I squeezed my way out of the overcrowded subway car and was looking ahead to apologetically elbow some more until final destination 65th str and 5th ave...
Although it felt like quasi-immobility, progress was made, I was nearing the meeting spot which also had the most concentrated amount of bystanders.
My eyes caught the jubilant groups marching in the flow-y parade. The pattern of groups and bands were for the most part what I imagined an Irish parade would have, although I wondered about others. "So let's see...bagpipes, kilts other highlander-style accoutrements check, jig dancers, celtic maybe gaelic culture traditional symbols, check, religious or politics figures, check, firefighters, police and veterans, check-check-check!" A bit confusing... Not so much according to the official page for this year's St Paddy's day Parade in the city, the parade at first had military roots:
The first official parade in the City was held in 1766 by Irishmen in a military unit recruited to serve in the American colonies. For the first few years of its existence, the parade was organized by military units until after the war of 1811. At that point in time, Irish fraternal and beneficial societies took over the duties of hosting and sponsoring the event.
If you happen to have more stories about the parade, please share them with us in the comment section. Do you also find it funny that every other marching group seems to belong to either the firefighters, the police or the military?
The first official parade in the City was held in 1766 by Irishmen in a military unit recruited to serve in the American colonies. For the first few years of its existence, the parade was organized by military units until after the war of 1811. At that point in time, Irish fraternal and beneficial societies took over the duties of hosting and sponsoring the event.
If you happen to have more stories about the parade, please share them with us in the comment section. Do you also find it funny that every other marching group seems to belong to either the firefighters, the police or the military?
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