US parades cap St Patrick’s Day celebrations – a little early
Americans have celebrated their Irish heritage by marking the country’s feast day, one day ahead of March 17.
People across the United States have celebrated their Irish heritage at several major St Patrick’s Day parades on Saturday.
They are marking the holiday a day early at events that included a big anniversary in Savannah, Georgia, and honoured a pioneering female business leader as grand marshal in New York.
While St Patrick’s Day falls on March 17, some parades were moved up from Sunday, a day of worship for the Christian faithful.
Megan Stransky of Houston and two relatives planned a Broadway weekend to coincide with the parade, seeing it as a prime opportunity to remember their family’s Irish roots and the traditions that helped shape their upbringing.
The grand marshal, Irish-born Heineken USA chief executive Maggie Timoney, is the first female head of a major US beer company.
New York City has multiple parades on various dates around its five boroughs – including, on Sunday, the first St Patrick’s Day parade allowing LGBTQ+ groups to march on Staten Island.
The Manhattan parade began allowing LGBTQ+ groups and symbols in 2015, after decades of protests, legal challenges and boycotts by some politicians.
Organisers say the tradition, started by the union, uses an environmentally friendly powder once used to check pipes for leaks.
Ahead of the bicentennial, Georgia’s oldest city had nearly 18,000 hotel rooms booked for the weekend.
