10 Most Popular St. Patrick's Day Parades Across the Country

With a reputed 200,000 Irish-Americans living in The Windy City, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Chicago serves up a heck of a St. Patrick's Day parade. First held way back in 1843, nowadays the event, which will kick off on Saturday, March 11 at 12:30 p.m., is said to draw hundreds of thousands of spectators, making it one of the largest such proceedings in the world. Look for The Shannon Rovers Irish Pipe Band to lead the three-hour procession, as they have since 1956, to be followed by floats, marching bands and much more. To snag a good spot along the parade route, which will stretch down Columbus Drive between Balbo Drive and Monroe Drive, plan to arrive at least a couple of hours early.

In fact, you might want to begin the morning by watching the Chicago River dyeing, a beloved St. Pat's tradition in Chicago since 1962. The eco-friendly (honestly!) event, so magical it might as well be a pot o' gold at the end of a rainbow, is offered by the local plumbers union, who will begin adding the dye to the river at 10 a.m. The Riverwalk and the bridges between State and Columbus offer great vantage points, but if you want to get an even better look at that brilliant green water hop aboard one of the cruises offered by outfits like Chicago's First Lady and Wendella. Many feature live music and Irish-themed food and drink in addition to some stellar views.

If you're making a weekend out of your Chicago visit (and you really should!), you have two more parades to choose from on Sunday, March 12, which both begin at noon. The homegrown South Side Irish St. Patrick's Day Parade, still going strong since two best buddies started it in 1979, will take over Western Avenue between 103rd and 115th Streets in Beverly and Morgan Park. Meanwhile, the Northwest Side Irish Parade, founded two decades ago this year, will kick off at William J. Onahan School before running down Neola Avenue and up Northwest Highway.

Dating back to 1762, The New York City Saint Patrick's Day Parade is a showstopper—but would you expect anything less from the city that never sleeps? Some 150,000 folks march in the spectacle, with as many as two million people watching from the sidewalks. Plan for the parade to begin on 5th Avenue at East 44th Street at 11 a.m. on the button March 17, and end at around 4:30 p.m. on 5th Avenue uptown at East 79th Street. If you want to be anywhere near the front of the crowd, get there as early as you can. Better yet, snare coveted grandstand seats by sending a letter requesting tickets with a self-addressed, stamped #10 envelope to the parade office by March 1. It's first-come-first-served, so you better get cracking.

Of course, the Big Apple is dishing out plenty of other shamrocking special events Paddy's Day weekend, including the St Patrick's Day Shamrock Cruise on the Cabana Yacht NYC on the 17th, featuring a three-hour open bar, and the New York City Official St Patrick's Day Bar Crawl, which is also on the 17th and includes more than 10 participating saloons. Just be sure to save some strength that night for All St. Paddy's Comedy, taking over The Triad with the best stand-up comedians from New York, Philly and Atlantic City tickling funnybones with Irish-themed humor.

Chicago may have more total Irish Americans, but Beantown has more per capita—over 20 percent of Boston's population claim family origins in the Emerald Isle. But that isn't the only reason the South Boston St. Patrick's Day Parade is the stuff of legend. The procession is actually sort of a two-for-one deal, as it also celebrates Evacuation Day, or March 17, 1776, when liberty-loving Bostonians threw British troops out of the city. The parade is thus an unusual blend of marching military units and Minutemen reenactors along with the more typical green-bedecked entries, all appearing to the noisy delight of upwards of a million onlookers.

The history of Boston's St. Patrick's Day parade can be traced back to 1737, when Irish residents held the first big festivities in the city honoring the saint. This year's edition will take place Sunday, March 19, beginning at 1 p.m. While it was originally to take an abbreviated route, the parade has since been extended and will begin at the Broadway T Station, ending at Andrew Square. Nonetheless, with crowds typically standing a dozen deep, attendees should definitely consider arriving early.

If you're feeling a bit parched before, during, or after the parade, there are a wealth of great pubs in Southie. The area where Irish immigrants first settled in Boston, it's still home to a vibrant Irish-American community. But South Boston isn't the only place to find good craic in the city on St. Paddy's Day weekend. For rowdy fun, take in an epic concert from homegrown Celtic punk band the Dropkick Murphys, who will be playing Fenway's new MGM Music Hall on the 17th and 18th, and House of Blues on the 19th. Or, learn the fascinating true tales of Boston's Irish immigrants and their descendants with a self-guided tour along the 20-site Irish Heritage Trail.

Unlike many of the significant cities located east of the Mississippi, Denver isn't known for having an especially large Irish population. In fact, some sources say just around four percent of residents there consider themselves to be of Irish descent. But that doesn't stop the Mile High City from putting on a monumental four-hour St. Paddy's parade that draws a crowd of as many as 400,000 people out to cheer it on. This year, the Denver St. Patrick's Day Parade will get underway on March 11 at the early-bird hour of 9:30 a.m. The route begins at Wynkoop at 19th Street, turning down 17th Street in front of the celebrated Denver Union Station before heading down Blake Street and eventually wrapping up on 27th Street.

Word is, some 10,000 participants in 200 units march in the celebration, which takes its inspiration from the city's first St. Patrick's Day parade, held back in 1889. Visitors should note that the weather in Denver can change as fast as a leprechaun's mood, so it's important to dress in layers on the big day. Plan on drinking more than green beer, too—consuming lots of water is one of the key ways to prevent altitude sickness. According to organizers, the best place on the route for families to watch the doings is on Blake Street between 23rd and 27th avenues. The most crowded area is south of 20th avenue on Blake Street, where the dancers, bands, etc. stop and give full performances. Folks arrive as early as 6 a.m. to stake out spots there.

If the parade remains the highlight of any Paddy's Day in Denver, there are other ways to mark the occasion, like visiting some of the city's best Irish pubs for traditional food, music and brews. They include: Scruffy Murphy's Irish Pub, Nallen's Irish Pub and Slattery's Pub & Grill. Or, you can take a short trip to Evergreen, where The Evergreen Players will present "An Evening of Irish Plays and Prose," with a special performance on March 17th.

Get ready to patty hard (sorry, we just couldn't resist) in the City of Brotherly Love on Sunday, March 12, when one of the country's oldest St. Patrick's Day parades returns. For more than 250 years, Philly has been presenting the epic cavalcade that these days includes more than 20,000 participants, including 200 groups. If you'd like to start the day off in a thoughtful manner, a mass will be celebrated at St. Patrick’s Church, at 20th and Locust streets, beginning at 9:15 a.m. The Philadelphia St. Patrick's Day Parade, which will kick off at 16th and JFK before heading along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, will follow at 11:15 a.m. and is expected to last about three hours. Speaking of thoughtful, this year's parade theme is "St. Patrick, Let There Be Peace."

Meanwhile, what's been dubbed "the country's largest St. Patrick's Day Bar Crawl" will take over the city the day before, on Saturday, March 11. With more than 20 taverns participating and some 10,000 revelers in attendance, it promises to be a plenty enlivening way (to say the least) to pre-game for the parade.

Savannah doesn't dye its river green on St. Pat's, although apparently the Georgia city did so once, in 1961, with such underwhelming results it never tried the effect again. Instead, Savannah makes an annual party of coloring its gorgeous fountains. On March 10, at noon this year, the Patrick’s Day Parade Grand Marshal will pour green dye into the water of the famed Forsyth Park fountain, more or less kicking off the holiday's festivities in the city.

Then, on the 17th, the Savannah St. Patrick's Day Parade will set off at 10:15 a.m. The procession is slated to begin just east of Forsyth Park, at Gwinnett and Abercorn streets, winding its way through downtown before finally finishing up at Madison Square on Harris Street. What started as more of a military parade in 1824 has grown to include more than 280 marching units and 15,000 people. It's been estimated that upwards of a half-million are drawn to Savannah during the celebration, which takes on the feel of a gigantic street festival as much as a parade.

While there will be pub tours galore throughout the city the weekend of St. Patrick's Day (including the Savannah Official St Patrick's Day Weekend Bar Crawl on the 17th), you might want to get up early on the holiday itself for the 8 a.m. St. Patrick's Day mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist, at 222 E. Harris St.

It's a safe bet you're going to have to bundle up if you're one of the 100,000 people attending the Detroit St. Patrick's Day Parade on March 12, though historically warm weather has blessed the shindig every now and again. Held in Corktown, the heart of the city's Irish community, the parade will kick off at Irish Plaza at 6th Street and Michigan Avenue and continue down Michigan to 14th Street. Corktown, so named because most of its residents came from County Cork, Ireland, was established in 1834, making it Detroit's oldest surviving neighborhood.

The parade itself traces its modern incarnation back to 1958, when a priest named Father Patrick O’Sullivan led a group of parishioners from St. Monica’s down city streets before heading back to the church for mass. Speaking of masses, a parade day mass will be held at 9 a.m. this year at Most Holy Trinity Church in Corktown, before the promenade begins at 1 p.m. If you'd like to test your St. Pat's stamina by doing more than bending an elbow, you can head over to the 40th annual Corktown Races after mass. The Kid’s Race will start at 10:30 a.m., the Emerald Mile at 10:40 a.m. and the Corktown 5K at 11:00 a.m.

If you are bringing littles to the parade, you might want to consider purchasing Family Fun Zone tickets. The special area, which is located at the beginning of the parade route, features goodies like seats in a heated grandstand, private restrooms, Irish entertainment and even reserved parking.

You'll have better luck finding someone with Irish heritage in Pittsburgh than you will a four-leaf clover. A lot better. A whopping one-fifth of inhabitants in the Steel City consider themselves Irish and are proud to prove it at the annual Pittsburgh St. Patrick's Day Parade, which will get underway this year on March 11 at 10 a.m. Expect as many as 350,000 merrymakers to line the streets of da Burgh to see the parade's more than 200 marching units, floats and bands make their way through downtown. The 1.4-mile route will begin at Liberty Avenue and 11th Street, continue on Grant Street, and then Boulevard of the Allies, eventually ending at Commonwealth Place.

The first recorded St. Patrick's Day parade in Pittsburgh dates back to 1869. It took a break from 1904 to 1950, before being born again for the modern era. Held rain, snow, or shine, no matter the weather, the event has grown to even include an appearance from everyone's favorite groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil. Traditionally, parade day begins with a mass held at Old St. Patrick’s Church in the Strip District, while thousands take to South Side and North Shore gathering spots following the conclusion of the 3.5-hour event.

While not many details have yet been revealed about San Francisco's St. Patrick's Day Parade, the 172nd edition is scheduled to start on Saturday, March 11 at 11:30 a.m. Said to be California's largest such event, it's hosted by The United Irish Societies of San Francisco who have dubbed this year's theme,"Hurling into the Future." Past parades have started at the corner of Second and Market and wrapped things up at Civic Center Plaza around two hours later. Attendance usually peaks at around 100,000 (a tenth of the Bay Area's total Irish American population), with more than 100 floats, marching bands, dance troupes and more delighting the crowds.

But the fun doesn't stop there. San Francisco typically plays host to a festival at the end of the parade route, with bands, Irish food and drink and a kids' area offering pint-sized rides and games. Or, head to the United Irish Cultural Center of San Francisco at 2700 45th Avenue for a corned beef meal and post-parade party from 2 p.m. until 11 p.m. The Center will also be throwing a Green Fest Block Party on Sunday, the 12th from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m., featuring fine Irish fare, children's activities, tons of vendors and entertainment.

If there's one city in the United States that loves a parade, it's New Orleans. In addition to the usual Mardi Gras doings, The Big Easy offers essentially three straight weeks of parades in honor of St. Patrick's Day (four, if you count the Irish Channel Practice March). Can't take a month off to celebrate the holiday NOLA style? Definitely head there on Saturday, March 11 for the celebrated Irish Channel St. Patrick's Day Parade. It begins at 1 p.m. at Magazine and Felicity streets, takes a loop through the neighborhood it's named after, finally ending at Jackson and Annunciation. Be sure to wear green—unless you want to collect pinches—and watch out for not only flying green beads but also cabbage, carrots, potatoes and onions. The parade marchers love to hurl the ingredients for Irish stew.

Named for the neighborhood's historically heavy concentrations of immigrants from Ireland, the Irish Channel is also home to the celebrated Parasol's Bar. Look for the watering hole's annual all-day street party to take over 3rd and Constance the same day as the parade. Then, on Sunday the 12th, you can double your parade fun with the St. Patrick's Day Metarie Road Parade in Metarie. Founded in 1971, the family-friendly event, which includes some 100 units, begins at noon on 41st Street and Severn Avenue.