Cincinnati’s 58th St. Patrick’s Day parade is Saturday.
New York City, Chicago and Boston are all well known for large St. Patrick's Day parades. Parade Chair Chris Schulte says like those cities, Cincinnati is a city of immigrants.
“Certainly, the Irish, coming over, a lot of them from the famines and the hard times, you were coming into a country that wasn’t your own. You were leaving your home behind to start a new life,” he says. “Being here and not forgetting that identity — where we came from and who we were, and how we overcame those hard times to come here. For me, it gives us more motivation to be able to tackle the hard times we face even in these days.”
Boston is home to one of the largest Irish heritage populations in the nation, and hosts multiple parades and concerts for the holiday. The streets of New York City are filled with people wearing green for the holiday.
Schulte says while Chicago dyes its river green, Cincinnati's tradition is to "steal" a statue of St. Patrick from the Church of the Immaculata in Mount Adams.
What to expect from Cincinnati's St. Patrick's Day parade
Cincinnati's St. Patrick's Day Parade starts earlier than usual this year. It begins at 11:45 a.m., instead of noon, to accommodate a live TV broadcast on Fox 19.
Schulte says the parade has almost 80 entries.
“Some of those entries vary in size to five, six, seven vehicles long versus a smaller entry which may only be one vehicle or just some marchers,” he says. “Typically the parade takes about 45 minutes for an entry to get from start to finish.”
Schulte says that starting point is on Mehring Way at Elm. It travels east to Joe Nuxhall Way, up to Freedom Way, and ends at Elm Street.
This year's honorary grand marshal is Tony Pike. Schulte says he can't think of anyone who "exudes Cincinnati" better. Pike graduated from UC and was a sixth round NFL draft pick by the Carolina Panthers.
"Being such a hometown product, growing up and going to Reading High School, being what some consider the greatest UC Bearcat of all time, and then when his career ended coming back to Cincinnati and staying local, getting involved with local high schools, doing charity sponsorships where ever he can."
Schulte says they expect more than a few iconic DeLoreans in the parade. He says there's a good reason collectors participate in the St. Patrick's Day parade.
“The DMC — which it was called — was built in Ireland during the '80s. Everyone knows John DeLorean and the history of John DeLorean, but what he found was to have a manufacturing plant in Northern Ireland at the time was cost-effective labor in his mind,” he says. “The cars, which of course became iconic in the '80s with Back to the Future, do hold a significance with a large amount of Northern Irish being employed by DMC at the time.”
Schulte says if the weather's good, DeLorean owners can come from as far away as Minnesota.
“The very last entry of our parade will actually be a live band on a trailer. They will actually stop inside the heart of The Banks in front of the bars and restaurants, and will continue playing music.”
Traditional Irish folk music often uses a fiddle, the bagpipe-like Uilleann pipes, and an Irish concertina.
That live music will continue, along with the party, through the day at The Banks.
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