Communities join forces to celebrate St Patrick's Day in Rathkeale

YEAR after year, the St Patrick’s Day parade in Rathkeale has been growing in popularity but this year will surely go on record as the biggest and longest ever. 

Thousands of people packed the route of the parade while well over a thousand people took part in the parade itself. 

It was, an exuberant and joyful return, after a gap of three years. And once again, the dress code was crucial and the wearing of the green was a must: hats, tops, skirts, pants, tiaras, necklaces, even hair stood out in bright greens while the green, white and gold bunting flew high above the parade. 

Traditionally, the Rathkeale parade is very much a joint celebration by both communities in the town, the settled and the Traveller. But there was a strong, international element also, including Brazilians and Lithuanians who live and work in the town while Ukrainian flags were carried by many. 

Community groups were out in force: the GAA, the soccer club, the scouts and the Butterfly Club and  there were strong contingents of motorbike, vintage car and sulkey enthusiasts. One of the star acts of the parade was a beautifully painted “wagon”, a miniature replica of the horse-drawn caravans which were home, in bygone days, to members of the Traveller community. But Independent TD Richard O’Donoghue cut a dash in his green and strangely shaped  jalopy and the pike men from Ardagh, under the flag of St Kieran’s Heritage Centre demanded attention.