Thousands attended San Francisco’s 2024 St. Patrick’s Day Parade to embrace Irish culture and traditions and to come together as a community.
The 173rd annual parade included over 10,000 people from various organizations, which, in medley with the unusually warm March weather, led to a substantial turnout by the Bay Area community.
Gabe Ismail is a Carlmont sophomore and Bay Area resident who attended the parade for the first time this year.
“The parade was great. Everyone’s energy was high, and you could see they were happy to be there. A lot of people were waving flags and cheering as the floats passed by,” Ismail said.
According to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, there were 110 floats that marched from Second Street and down Market Street all the way to the Civic Center.
Liam Reidy, the president of the United Irish Cultural Center (UICC), contributed to the UICC’s two entries in the parade.
One of the UICC’s floats was a double-decker bus filled with its youth, musicians, dancers, and volunteers. The other float was built to look like a train, dedicated to the Irish American and Chinese American workers who helped build the Transcontinental Railroad in the 1860s.
“They connected the eastern and western parts of the country. It’s one of those stories that we’d like to shed a little more light on it,” Reidy said.
Celine Kennelly is the executive director of the Irish Immigration Pastoral Center (IIPC), an advice and referral center for Irish immigrants and various American communities.
“The Irish Immigration Pastoral Center is one of the organizations included in the planning committee. We’ve also been participating in the parade for probably 15 years,” Kennelly said.
The cherished tradition is more than just entertainment for watchers. It provides an opportunity for different communities to come together and celebrate Irish heritage and traditions through the parade.
“It’s a celebration of all things Irish, and we know the age-old saying is that everybody is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. It’s a great opportunity for our community to come together with other communities, and everybody is welcome to be part of us and to come down and enjoy the festivities to celebrate our culture, traditions, and the history of the Irish community in San Francisco,” Kennelly said.
The parade’s activities also illustrate how attendees can embrace the vibrant culture and traditions regardless of ethnicity.
“I want more people to experience that you don’t have to be Irish or Irish American to come to the Irish center and participate in our classes or any of our programs or camps. It’s not exclusive, but rather inclusive,” Reidy said.
Spectators of the parade were able to get a glimpse into Irish customs and learn more about what it is to be Irish.
“It was definitely a learning experience. The music you hear and the traditional clothing aren’t things you see every day, so it allowed me to better grasp those aspects of Irish culture that I wouldn’t have known otherwise,” Ismail said.
Finally, the parade also helps incorporate Irish traditions for future generations.
“For the past two years, we’ve had five kids under the age of 12 who have been learning the bagpipes and we got to see them play together at the parade this year. This is what it’s all about, the next generation of Irish Americans participating in the parade,” Reidy said.
