Raleigh St. Patrick's Day Parade & Festival

With some luck of the Irish, the sun will shine on the 37th Annual Raleigh St. Patrick"s Day Parade and Wearin" "O the Green Festival Saturday, March 16th in downtown Raleigh. The parade begins promtly at 10am starting at the interception of Lane and Salisbury Street. The parade will last about an hour and a half. So make sure you come in time to enjoy it all.

When the Parade is over the Festival begins - The Wearin" "O the Green Festival is held on City Plaza at the south end of Fayetteville Street in downtown, along with some of the neighboring streets. There will be lots of live music and dancing. In addition the kids will find lots of fun along Leprechaun Lane with a bounce house and kiddie rides. Shop the various vendor and craft booths and there will be also lots of food and refreshments.

Entertainment is schedule round the clock on two stages:

Shamrock "n Roll Stage - City Plaza
11:30 Nine Times Around
1:00 Parade Committee
1:30 US Fleet Forces - Four Star Edition!
2:30 Shanachie
3:30 Ceol Cara

Courthouse Steps Stage
12:00 NC State University Pipes and Drums  
12:30 Triggle Academy of Irish Dance
1:00 Lynn-O"Grady Quinlan-Connick Academy of Irish Dance
1:30 Inis Cairde School of Irish Dance
2:00 Annandale Center of Scottish Dance
2:30 to 4:30 Irish Session - all musicians welcome

How It All Began - The Raleigh parade started in 1983 with a dozen or so enthusiastic Irish-Americans marching down Wilmington St. to the delight and curiosity of downtown residents, merchants and shoppers. The parade was organized initially by John McIntyre and Gail Massari. John and Gail kept the parade going and growing until 1988 when John was transferred to Germany. Prior to leaving for Germany they asked Raleigh"s  Friends of Ireland (FOI) organization to continue the work they started. The FOI board agreed to organize the parade. Frank Mellage became involved with the parade at that time. He served on the Parade committee from 1989-1992 and became Chairman of the committee for the 1993 St. Patrick"s Day Parade. In 2000 an independent Raleigh Saint Patrick"s Day Parade Committee was formed with members from other local Irish organizations.

Parking is available at any public parking deck and there is some street parking available on downtown streets that are not part of the parade route or festival.  Please Click Here for Raleigh City Parking Map.