NEW YORK — Irish pleasure is on full show Saturday for the 2024 New York Metropolis St. Patrick’s Day Parade.Â
Pleasure was constructing all morning alongside the parade route in Manhattan earlier than it stepped off at 11 a.m.Â
Round 150,000 individuals deliberate to march up Fifth Avenue from forty fourth Avenue to 79th. Greater than 2 million had been anticipated to look at from the sidelines.Â
The New York Metropolis St. Patrick’s Day Parade is rooted in historical past. It predates the signing of the Declaration of Independence and is the biggest and oldest St. Patrick’s Day parade on this planet.Â
“What we’ll do at this time is we can pay homage to our ancestors who got here to this nation within the thousands and thousands and who marched up Fifth Avenue. Immediately we’ll march of their footsteps and honor them,” stated Hilary Beirne, chairman of the St. Patrick’s Day Basis and chief administrator of the parade.Â
“I am the second Irish-born girl and the sixth girl ever to steer the parade in all these centuries. So it’s totally significant for me to consider all of the younger women round the US, in New York Metropolis, world wide taking a look at me and saying, sure, you may be there too,” stated Grand Marshal Maggie Timoney.Â
NYPD stated parade safety is tight, however there aren’t any credible threats.Â
“We could have property you may see. We could have property which you can’t see,” stated Chief of Division Jeffrey Maddrey.Â
The Irish flag was raised at Bowling Inexperienced Park on Friday to kickoff the festivities for the 263rd parade.Â
The St. Patrick’s Day Parade is the second-largest parade in New York Metropolis, behind the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
It is being held the day earlier than St. Patrick’s Day this 12 months so it does not battle with Sunday spiritual observances.Â