If bagpipes, beer, and parades sound appealing, you might want to hang around for an extra day before leaving for spring break. New Haven's week-long St. Patrick's Day celebration kicks off with a three-hour parade through downtown on Sun., Mar. 10, with festivities culminating on the holiday itself, Sun., Mar. 17.
According to Grand Marshal Katie O'Keefe Gerhard, the parade will draw 125,000 people to watch bagpipe units, fife and drum corps, and floats. Gerhard will lead the parade, along with Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. The parade has been organized by the Yale-New Haven Gaelic and Hurling Club, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the West Haven Irish-Merifcan Club, and the Knights of St. Patrick. Traditionally, Parade Day, the Sunday before St. Patrick's Day, is the only day when Connecticut's open container law is not heavily enforced in New Haven.
"Over the years, our parade has become more than a celebration for New Haven's Irish-Americans. It's a festival of spring, drawing participants and spectators of all nationalities from all over the state and beyond," Gerhard said. The week will offer activities at the Irish-American Community Center, including performances by bands from Ireland. Toad's Place will serve green beer and feature the traditional Irish music of the Tipperary Knights. On St. Patrick's Day, the Irish-American Community Center will offer an Irish breakfast, a corned beef and cabbage dinner, and dancing.
Despite the absence of Yalies, restaurants will overflow with people. "It's absolute craziness," Steven Prentiss, manager of Rudy's Restaurant said, reflecting on last year's Parade Day. "It's the busiest day of the year; the place is packed. People overflow onto the sidewalks and we actually need to import a port-a-potty for the front sidewalk." Rudy's prints up special t-shirts and offers special corned beef sandwiches throughout the day. "We get a lot of firemen who come in, which goes back to the day when the firehouse was where the new Xando place is opening up," Prentiss said. The new Xando coffee shop and bar will take advantage of the holiday by holding its grand opening on St. Patrick's Day.
The New Haven tradition began on Mar. 17, 1842, when a group of Irish immigrants marched down the city streets. According to Gerhard, those steps began a 154-year tradition which has become Connecticut's largest spectator event. St. Patrick was a Catholic missionary to Ireland who spoke out against human slavery, the sacrifice of infants to harvest gods, and the use of prisoners' skulls as ceremonial drinking bowls.
Copyright 1996, The Yale Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
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