St. Patrick’s Day Parade dominates Downtown Pittsburgh – Point Park Globe

Hundreds gathered in Downtown Pittsburgh Saturday to participate in the Pittsburgh St. Patrick’s Day Parade for the holiday weekend.  

The parade started at 10 a.m. and continued for about three hours. It began at the intersection of Liberty Avenue and 11th Street and proceeded to Grant Street and Boulevard of the Allies. It ended at the Review Stand on Stanwix Street.  

The parade was organized by the non-profit organization Irish Society for Education and Charity. 

Earlier in the day, Pittsburgh Police erected metal barricades on the streets where the parade would pass through, closing traffic to the area. Pittsburgh Regional Transit bussing routes were temporarily altered to accommodate the parade. 

Both the parade itself and the crowd watching were dominated by green: Green attire, green decoration, green confetti, green everything.  

Music could be heard from loudspeakers alongside the many bands, bagpipers and dancing organizations marching down the streets.  

Local high school and college marching bands including Carnegie Mellon University, Central Catholic High School and more played their instruments in the parade as well. 

Firefighters, police officers, bomb squad members and paramedics from around the Pittsburgh region populated large sections of the parade. 

Onlookers cheered as parade participants passed by. Many of the parade-goers threw candy at the crowd. Even off the streets, people looked down from parking garages to see the parade from above. 

Folding tables, tents and small wagons were set up across the parade selling St. Patrick’s Day themed merchandise and food to festive and hungry attendees.  

Al Ponz, a veteran and attendee of the parade for 30 years, was among those selling merchandise during the parade in a small wagon.  

“We sell horns, tassel caps, gloves, scarves, hoodies, t-shirts, beads,” he said. “You name it, we got it.” 

Chris, a graduate student from Robert Morris University, was a first-time parade observer.  

“I gotta say, the Irish dancing was super cool,” he said. “They had this dancing club that came out and they were good.”  

Chris is in his last year of graduate school and will be moving to Washington in the coming month. “It’s kind of hitting me that I’m not going to be in Pittsburgh much more, so I’m kind of trying to take advantage of every community event they have,” he said. 

It wasn’t just residents of the Pittsburgh area that populated the crowds.  

Wyatt, a resident of Michigan, traveled to see the parade.  

“St. Patrick’s Day is on a Tuesday, so you got to celebrate on the weekend,” he said. “It’s a good excuse to start drinking at 9 a.m.” 

Beginning in the mid-1800’s, the parade has evolved drastically since its inception. It is now the third largest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the country.  

Many organizations sponsored the event including Raising Canes, First National Bank, Pittsburgh National Airport and the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

To those who could not attend the parade in person, footage of the event is archived on the Pittsburgh St. Patrick’s Day Parade YouTube channel, alongside last year’s parade.