9 Biggest And Best St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations In The USA

St. Patrick’s Day is one of the most festive holidays in the United States and it is just around the corner. Here we break down the 9 biggest and best St. Patrick’s Day parades in the United States, from NYC to Boston, Savannah to Chicago.

St. Patrick’s Day parades in this country are, in fact, older than the country itself. Several of the oldest and most prestigious parades predate the signing of the Declaration of Independence!

9 Biggest And Best St. Patrick’s Day Parades In The USA

Flying around the country for St. Patrick’s Day parades isn’t exactly feasible to everyone, especially with the asinine cost of airfare these days. But that shouldn’t stop anyone from planning ahead to hit the best St. Patrick’s Day parades near them and in the future. So let’s break it down below.

1. Chicago

Chicago is the gold standard for St. Patrick’s Day parades in America. You will find me arguing until the cows come home that NYC is just as fun but deep down, I know the truth. Neither the Hudson or the East River get dyed green like the river in Chicago. They go all out.

The first St. Patrick’s Day parade in Chicago was held in 1843 and it has run continuously since. The main parade and the South Side Irish Parade combine to attract hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people celebrating. Estimates put the crowd size between 800K and 1 million.

2. New York City

New York City hosts the second oldest continuous St. Patrick’s Day parade in the USA (Boston is #1). It has been running every year since 1762, though it first started as a party/gathering not a formal parade. The parade is older than America!

NYC‘s parade ends in the Upper East Side where the hundreds of bars in the neighborhood get so packed it is virtually impossible to get a Guinness at times but the great thing about Manhattan is there are over 25,000 estimated nightlife institutions and just about every single one of them will have St. Patrick’s Day revelers. Another trick, which I used in the past, is to take over the TouchTunes jukebox and play ‘Strawberry Wine’ by Deana Carter on repeat until the crowd begins to dissipate.

The New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade can, at times, draw up to 2 million revelers with 150K marching in the actual parade in years past. Also, if St. Patrick’s Day happens to land on a Sunday the parade is held on Saturday to give everyone extra time to throw back the ample amount of Guinness without worrying about work on Monday.

3. Boston

Boston lays claim to the oldest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the country. It was first held in 1737, also as a gathering like NYC and not initially as a formal parade. But that is 39 years before the United States of America even became a country!

Boston is one of the best cities in America and they do it right on St. Patrick’s Day. The only issue is their antiquated alcohol laws that prohibit drink specials on St. Patrick’s Day. This year’s parade will be held on Sunday unlike in NYC. That’s strike two.

4. New Orleans

Call it whatever you want: The Big Easy, Crescent City, Nawlins, New Orleans. The city loves a good party. It takes the tiniest iota of effort imaginable to get people excited about a celebration in New Orleans and that rings true on St. Patrick’s Day.

Even though New Orleans has less of an Irish history than the Northeast and Midwest cities it makes up for the thin heritage with how much it loves to party. It is sometimes referred to as ‘Mardi Gras in Green’ with how hard the city goes for St. Patrick. During the main parade, a lot of people on the floats will toss ingredients to make a traditional St. Patrick’s Day dinner (potatoes, cabbage, carrots, onions) and all you need to add is the corned beef and you’ve got a St. Patrick’s Day dinner just from the ingredients you caught instead of beads.

5. Savannah

Savannah, Georgia goes HARD for St. Patrick’s Day. It helps that you can drink in public 365 days a year in Savannah but on St. Patrick’s Day the city erupts.

With around 400,000 spectators, the Savannah parade is one of the largest in the world. It takes back to 1824 making it the 7th oldest continuously ran St. Patrick’s Day parade in the United States. Similar to how it goes down in Chicago, the water gets dyed green. Except in Savannah they dye the fountains green, not the river.

6. Cleveland

I don’t know if you’ve heard this before but Cleveland rocks. It’s true. And ‘The Land’ goes hard for St. Patrick with the 9th oldest parade in the USA dating back to 1842.

Around 500,000 show up for Cleveland’s parade each year with around 10,000 participants walking in the parade itself. The Harp in Cleveland will go through over 1,500 pounds of corned beef on St. Patrick’s Day. That is hard to wrap my mind around.

7. Philadelphia

Philly is one of the oldest and best cities in our country and Philadelphians go hard for St. Patrick’s Day like the other great cities. The City of Brotherly Love hosts the third oldest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the country, dating back to 1771, 5 years before our great country came into existence with the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.

Around 20,000 participants walk in the Philadelphia parade each year from well over 200 different organizations. Philly’s parade is fun in particular because it hypes up the Irish music and dance. It isn’t just watching floats and marching bands walk past the entire time.

8. Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, PA has been hosting a St. Patrick’s Day parade every year since 1869, making it one of the oldest in the nation. A gargantuan crowd shows up each year with an estimated 400,000 spectators.

Things kick off at 10am in Pittsburgh and weather doesn’t stop it. The parade marched through a blizzard in 1993. If there’s a downside of this parade it’s that throwing beads is prohibited. The city needs to rethink that policy at some point in the future, methinks. Open container drinking is also banned on the parade route so finding a bar along the path is important.

9. Kansas City

The annual Kansas City St. Patrick’s Day parade sees a turnout of around 200,000 spectators. It was first held in 1873 which also makes it one of the oldest in the nation.

Food, music, heritage, the Kansas City parade focuses on them all. There is also an annual 4-mile race before the parade that leads into breakfast so revelers can burn some calories, get some food in their bellies, and feel great before throwing back Guinness for the parade.