Everything you should know about NYC’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Glucksman Ireland House NYU and NYU Pipes and Drums march in the NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade, 2019 Credit: Kate Lord/New York University on Flickr
One of New York City’s longest-standing traditions returns this week. On Friday, March 17, the city’s 261st annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade will kick off on Fifth Avenue and 44th Street and travel up to 79th Street, with roughly 150,000 marchers in tow and two million onlookers. New York City hosted one of the world’s very first St. Patrick’s Day parades on March 17, 1762, more than a decade prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Photo via Wikimedia
In 1762, Irish soldiers serving in the British army stationed in the colonies marched to honor the Catholic feast day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. Following an influx of Irish immigration to New York in the middle of the 19th century after the Great Famine, the parade became an annual tradition, and cities across the country followed suit.
In March 2020, the city’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade was one of the first major events to be canceled because of Covid. In 2021, the parade was held virtually. Last year, the parade returned to an in-person event for the first time since the pandemic.
The 2023 parade starts at 11 a.m. on Friday at Fifth Avenue and 44th Street and moves north on Fifth Avenue, passing St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and ending at the American Irish Historical Society on 79th Street at 4:30 p.m.
This year’s grand marshal is Kevin J. Conway, the vice chairman of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, a global private equity firm. Conway is a native of Queens and his parents were both of Irish descent.
For both participants and spectators, the best way to get to the parade is via public transit. Grand Central Terminal is the closest station to the parade and the city’s Lexington Avenue Line (4, 5, and 6 trains) covers the full parade route. The Long Island Rail Road will have ushers at the new Grand Central Madison terminal to direct customers to exits leading to Madison Avenue between East 42nd Street and East 48th Street.
According to the MTA, the LIRR will also add four extra westbound trains to Penn Station prior to the parade, two on the Babylon Branch and two on the Ronkonkoma Branch. Transfers to Grand Central-bound trains at Jamaica are available for all four additional trains.
The following Manhattan streets will be fully closed on Thursday, March 17 at the discretion of the NYPD in Manhattan:
Formation:
- Vanderbilt Avenue between 43rd Street and 46th Street
- 43rd Street between Vanderbilt Avenue and 6th Avenue
- 44th Street between Vanderbilt Avenue and 6th Avenue
- 45th Street between Vanderbilt Avenue and 6th Avenue
- 46th Street between Vanderbilt Avenue and 6th Avenue
- 47th Street between Park Avenue and 6th Avenue
- 48th Street between Park Avenue and 6th Avenue
Route:
- 5th Avenue between 79th Street and 42nd Street
Dispersal:
- 5th Avenue between 86th Street and 79th Street
- 79th Street between Park Avenue and 5th Avenue
- 80th Street between Lexington Avenue and 5th Avenue
- 81st Street between Lexington Avenue and 5th Avenue
- 82nd Street between Lexington Avenue and 5th Avenue
- 83rd Street between Lexington Avenue and 5th Avenue
- 84th Street between Madison Avenue and 5th Avenue
Other closures:
- 49th Street between Madison Avenue and Rockefeller Plaza
- 50th Street between Madison Avenue and Rockefeller Plaza
- 51st Street between Madison Avenue and 6th Avenue
- 53rd Street between Madison Avenue and 6th Avenue
- 58th Street between Madison Avenue and 6th Avenue
- 62nd Street between Madison Avenue and 5th Avenue
- 63rd Street between Madison Avenue and 5th Avenue
- 64th Street between Park Avenue and 5th Avenue
- 65th Street between Madison Avenue and 5th Avenue
- 70th Street between Madison Avenue and 5th Avenue
- 71st Street between Madison Avenue and 5th Avenue
- 72nd Street between Madison Avenue and 5th Avenue
- 78th Street between Madison Avenue and 5th Avenue
- Madison Avenue between 42nd Street and 86th Street
The St. Patrick’s Day Parade will air live on NBC 4 and on the parade’s official YouTube channel here.
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