Estimated 2 million attend St. Patrick's Day Parade in Manhattan
NEW YORK -- Irish pride was on full display Saturday at the 2024 New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade.
Excitement was building all morning along the parade route in Manhattan before it stepped off at 11 a.m.
"I mean, look at the crowds. Unbelievable. Unbelievable," said Patty O'Shea of Erie, Pennsylvania.
O'Shea traveled over 400 miles to join in the day's fun, and of course had to bring her almost 30-year-old coat, coated in festive pins. Others came from over 1,000 miles away, like Stephanie Harley of Mississippi, with friends from Florida and Alabama.
"If we were coming to New York, we were gonna be all decked out for this parade. Why not?" Harley said.
"This is as Irish as it gets and I'm Italian. But I'm Irish today and every St. Paddy's day I'm Irish," said Victoria Daconto of the Long Island town of Brookhaven.
Through hats, wigs, and flags, what's estimated to have been about 2 million parade goers showed their Irish pride -- Irish or not on what was a sunny Saturday. Gov. Kathy Hochul shared that she's New York's first Irish-American governor in 40 years.
"Looks like a spectacular day to march up Fifth Avenue and show our colors today," Hochul said.
The city's St. Patrick's Day Parade is known as the oldest in the world. It started in the 1700s and is in its 263rd year.
"It's a good experience. It's my first time in New York and it's very interesting, all the Irish that is here in New York," said Gabriel Aguirre of Chihuahua, Mexico.
Aguirre was seeing it all for the first time. St. Patrick's Cathedral held its annual Mass, hosting religious leaders from around the world.
"It's a particular honor to be asked to be here," said Jim Fanucane, mayor of Kerry County, Ireland.
Fanucane, who has dual Irish and American citizenship, was among the about 150,000 marchers.
"That bond between the Irish and the Americans is ... it's very important to us in Ireland," he said.
All the festivities were held on the day before St. Patrick's Day, itself, so to not interfere with Sunday religious services.