The 7th Annual Annapolis St. Patricks Day Parade was the largest parade yet. With more than 100 units from as far away as Milwaukee, New York, and Norway! The parade kicked off promptly at 1pm. Military bands, drum and bagpipe bands, fire trucks, Irish step dancers, and plenty of local businesses and politicians all marched to a crowd estimated at more than 8,000 that lined the sides of West and Main Streets. The party continued at Susan Campbell Park with Shamrock the Dock featuring live bands, face painting, and more!
Many have asked why Annapolis holds a St. Patrick’s Day parade on March 10th. The easy answer would be because we are a weird little town. But the right answer is a bit more pragmatic. Organizer, John O’Leary realized that as a small parade (way back in 2012) that we could never attract the marching units of the other cities like New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore or Washington…because the units would want to be in THOSE parades. Also, our local businesses do pretty well on March 17th without a parade. But moving it up a week–that attracts the units from afar, and gives the local merchants another economic boost in the middle of winter!
We spoke with O’Leary about all the shenanigans happening this weekend on The Maryland Crabs Podcast. Have a listen:
Plot twist this year–the DC Parade was canceled so many of the units scrambled to enter the Annapolis Parade. So far, O’Leary has lucked out with the weather–and another bullet was dodged today!
We were perched atop The Commons for the parade and here is our Facebook live video:
More photos from Glenn A. Miller Photography coming soon. Check back
