Manchester’s St Patrick’s Day Parade is to return this year, after a year’s absence caused by the pandemic.
It will take place on Sunday, March 13, beginning at the Irish World Heritage Centre in Cheetham Hill at 12 noon.
But due to the continuing renovations of the Town Hall, the usual route all the way through to Albert Square has been shortened.
The parade will instead be heading down Queen’s Road onto Cheetham Hill Road, before moving towards the AO Arena, where it will turn around and head back to the IWHC.
Martin Logan, one of the trustees of the IWHC, told the Manchester Evening News: “We all missed it. It’s the highlight of our calendar for the Irish community in the UK.
“There are the parades all over the UK, in London, Liverpool, Liverpool, Leeds, all over.
“We missed it, and we missed seeing our friends, that was the big thing. It always a good day of fun and laughter and colour. We’re really looking forward to it going ahead this year.
“So far we have about 35 registered floats, and there’s a good 10 days to go yet, so we should have around 40.
“We’ll have five or six walking groups, and various marching bands - we’ll have a couple of pipe bands, and various other types of musicians.”
A mass will also precede the parade at 10am, also at the IWHC, with the centre open for breakfast, and then through the day with Irish bands playing right through into the evening.
The St Patrick’s Day celebrations were cancelled last year, but went ahead in 2020, despite some concerns over the spread of coronavirus.
The first parade in Manchester happened in 1990.
It’s not the only planned event for St Patrick’s Day celebrations this year.
O’Shea’s is planning a 10-day celebration at its beer garden venue, just by the Mancunian Way on Cakebread Street, from March 10 to 20.
Food from the crew at Eat New York will be on offer, with music from Green Hot Clover, The Joe Keegan Band, Live Lounge, Culainn, Nicky Mc Callan, Quare Craic, Harry James and the Irish Ramblers, Mollys, Chambers featuring Richard Sanderson on fiddle and The Last Drop.
You can book tickets online for its two sittings - 12pm to 4pm and 5pm until close - here.
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