Wearing traditional green clothing, many Montrealers braved the rain and cold weather to enjoy their first St. Patrick’s Day parade since 2019.
The lifting of the restrictions put in place against COVID-19 allowed the presentation of the 197and parade.
The metropolis’ annual celebration of Irish heritage was one of the first events to be canceled at the start of the pandemic in 2020. Another wave of COVID-19 also forced organizers to cancel the year’s parade. last.
The United Irish Societies of Montreal, which have organized the event since 1929, kicked off the festivities around 9:30 a.m.
Kevin Tracey, the organization’s spokesperson, says they had to consider various scenarios over the past three months before receiving approval from municipal authorities.
“We have everything we can to get our plan accepted by public health officials. We chose to start the parade earlier before to attract fewer spectators, to have a more family-oriented approach, that sort of thing, he explained. Even if we had been told that we could place 4000 participants, we would not have had time to organize it. Many come from out of town, it’s not something you can change in a day.
The parade was held on a smaller scale than those in the past. The marching bands were smaller in size, the dancers were fewer. There were only 500 participants instead of the thousands before the pandemic. Another exception: there were no parade floats.
“It’s like a relief to have been able to organize a new parade without restriction, recognized Mr. Tracey. We’ve had a bigger crowd than this before, but it was still fun. I’m even surprised that we attracted so many people.”
An expected return
Wearing a green coat, the mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, was present in the crowd.
“We celebrate Irish communities in Montreal today with the long-awaited return of the traditional parade,” she wrote on Twitter.
The return of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade made many people happy.
“It is important. It’s a tradition. I don’t want it to stop, I want it to continue, launched a happy spectator, Chantal Shirley Arcand. When I found out there was one, I was very happy. I got up at 6 a.m. to make sure I was on time.
Even the reduced scale of the festivities did not dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd.
“Even with the rain, it was very good,” said Dimitra Doanis. People waited for two years to go out and drink. Even though it was short, it was good to see everyone.
The Montreal Police Service (SPVM) said the parade passed off peacefully. His agents did not have to intervene.