St. Patrick’s Parades 2019

The month of Carnival parades just ended on the 5th but we were back in the streets again ALL weekend starting with the Molly’s (Jim Monaghan’s) Irish Parade Friday in the French Quarter. The Pussyfooters were invited to join in the festivities this year and I love any chance to dance. The weather was awful, cold and rainy, but we were grateful for inclusion in the lively second line.

Saturday, we met family at the Irish Channel St. Patrick’s Day Club‘s Irish Channel Parade. The parade features double-decker floats, dancers and bagpipers but the heart of the Irish Channel parade is the many groups of walkers exchanging silk flowers for kisses (mostly on the cheek).

Irish Channel St. Patrick’s Parade 2018

With Mardi Gras parades a month behind us,  the St. Patrick’s festivities offer a city-wide pick-me-up including several parties and parades. Our favorite event is the Irish Channel Parade put on by the Irish Channel St. Patrick’s Day Club since 1947. With floats, throws, dance troupes and walking krewes, the parade includes over 1400 (often drunk) walkers in black suits and green accessories (many in kilts) exchanging silk flowers for kisses from the women and children on the route.

Irish Channel St. Patrick’s Parade 2013

This is my 4th year celebrating St. Patrick’s in New Orleans. I don’t say St. Patrick’s “Day” because it goes on for longer, up to a week. I’m not Irish but I’ve really caught the St. Pat’s fever beading my fence line, decorating a wreath and wearing wig-to-petticoats green. There are many parades and events but my favorite thus far is the Irish Channel St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Over 1400 (often drunk) walkers in black suits and green accessories (many in kilts) exchange silk flowers for kisses from the women and children on the route. Then floats pass tossing cabbage, carrots, Oodles of Noodles, pickles, Moon Pies,  Lucky Charms and Irish Spring soap in addition to the traditional throws of beads, toys and cups.

Irish Channel St. Patrick’s Day Parade

After my first full Mardi Gras season here in 2010, I had my first ever St. Patrick’s season here. Much to my surprise in this mostly non-Irish city, the celebrations went on for days with block parties, house parties and a multitude of parades. My favorite moment quickly became the Irish Channel Parade. This, my 3rd Irish Channel Parade, brought my life in L.A. and my life in NOLA together. Preparing for my upcoming part in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, I’ve been spending time with several of my fellow castmates. Though I invited people from many different parts of my life, I spent St. Patrick’s surrounded by Django-ites.

St. Patrick’s Day – Block Party and Parade

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated citywide by Irish and non-Irish alike. The day starts with a block party. For years, the party was hosted by Parasol’s, an Irish pub, but after last year’s festivities, the bar sold and the former owners moved 2 blocks away, opening a new bar on Magazine Street – or rather, reopening an old family bar called Tracey’s. Unaffected by the confusion over old Parasol’s/new Parasol’s, old Parasol’s/new Tracey’s, the block party went on as usual.

Irish Channel Parade

After attending over 20 parades during the Carnival season, I was ready for a break, but with Mardi Gras ending so late this year, we only had 3 days before the St. Patrick’s festivities began. The Irish Channel Parade is characterized mostly by drunken black-suited men carrying what look like umbrellas but are, in fact, silk flowers to be exchanged for kisses. The other distinguishing characteristic is, in addition to the beads, toys and cups thrown at Mardi Gras parades, the Irish throw cabbage, potatoes, carrots, oodles of noodles, peppers, cucumbers, Lucky Charms and Irish Spring soap. The idea is that after the parade, you would go home and turn most of those ingredients into a cabbage stew.