Return of St Patrick's Day Parade brings great excitement to Tipperary Town
The Tipperary Town St. Patrick’s Day Parade returned to great celebration on Friday, March 17. After an overcast and rainy morning the clouds gave way to sunshine and this brought great crowds onto the streets of the town for our national day. Shop windows were appropriately decorated for the day and even the Maid of Eireann statue was adorned with the national colours.
There was a great sense of excitement at the return of the parade as evidenced by the numbers of people lining the parade route. From ‘The Plan’ and across O’Connell Road participants assembled in readiness for the start of a parade, which had been missing from the streets of the town for the past three years.
At 2pm the Garda vehicle turned into the top of O’Brien Street heralding the start of the 2023 St. Patrick’s Day Parade. As is customary with the parade it was led off by a colour party made up of members of the Organisation of National Ex-Servicemen, followed by the CJ Kickham Brass and Reed Band.
As it made its way down O’Brien Street and onto the Main Street there was a great welcome for the Knockanrawley Mens Group who were Grand Marshalls for the parade.
The beautiful stilt walker from the Wobbly Circus and her colleague on the unicycle added a sense of fun and excitement to the occasion.
No parade would be complete without the main man and St. Patrick himself arrived in a vintage army vehicle complete with outriders from the Tipperary Vintage Rally, in appropriate national costume. It was great to see the crowds along the streets enjoying the day and many had dressed up in our national colours in celebration of the occasion, and of course there was plenty of green ice cream being enjoyed by young and older people.
Commentary for the parade was provided by the inimitable Willie Bun and pre parade music was provided by High Times, Stephen Stokes and Dee Morrissey.
On the reviewing stand was guest of honour, Tipperary senior hurler Johnny Ryan, and also present were Councillors, including the District Cathaoirleach Cll Michael Anglim, and representatives of the Clergy, An Garda Siochána and from Weinstadt,
Germany (twinned with Tipperary Town).
There was lots of colour and pagentry throughout the parade with vintage and commercial vehicles, Fire Service, Red Cross and South Eastern Mountain Rescue vehicles, dancing groups (both traditional and modern), male and female sporting groups from the town and surrounding areas (GAA, rugby, soccer, taekwondo), special needs representatives, christian fellowship participants, credit union and co-op representatives, and vehicles and participants showcasing local events, shows and old traditions.
WINNING FLOAT
The horse and cart carrying barrels of Guinness in the old tradition as portrayed by James and Sarah Doherty of Doherty Transport was judged the winner of the Best Float by Johnny Ryan.
The parade was under the aegis of Tipperary Town Chamber of Commerce and after the parade Joe Hayes, Chair of Tipperary Chamber of Commerce honoured three local businesses that won Irish Restaurant Awards recently.
Presentations were made to MJ Buckley of the Junction Bar and Restaurant, Martin Lovell of Prime 74 and Kenneth O’Neill of O’Neill’s Bistro by Joe Hayes. On the previous evening the St Patrick’s Day Committee and the Tipperary Chamber of Commerce made a presentation to Tony and Maureen Walsh of Wellworths to mark their 47 years of service, following the closure of their business in the town.
Well done to the St Patrick’s Day Committee and the Tipperary Chamber of Commerce for bringing the parade back to the town and to all those who helped to organise and steward the event. There was a great buzz in the town for the occasion and hopefully this can be replicated with other community events which are planned over the coming weeks and months.
The icing on the cake was seeing the town featured on the RTE News at 6pm and again at 9pm on St. Patrick’s evening. It was great to see the town and the younger members of our community featured in such a positive way and it was a very welcome boost for the town.
Well done to everyone involved in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade 2023.