St. Patrick's Day Parade Scranton

The St. Patrick's Parade Day in Scranton is the second largest St. Patrick's Day Parade in the United States. It is held in Scranton, Pennsylvania every year on the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day - even if St Patrick's day falls on a Saturday. For Example, in 2012, St. Patrick's Day is on a Saturday, and the Parade is held the previous Saturday - March 10

The date of the parade is commonly referred to as "Parade Day". Festivities begin with a mass at 10:00 am at St Peter's Cathedral. The mass is preceded by a 2 mile footrace of the parade route at 11:00, an hour later the parade begins.

Each year, thousands of people line the streets of downtown Scranton on Parade Day to take part in one of the city's greatest traditions. The city has hosted a St. Patrick's Day Parade since early in its history, with the current iteration being held annually since 1961. The Parade is sponsored and organized by the St. Patrick's Day Parade Association of Lackawanna County. Attendance for the 2008 parade, which featured appearances by Bertie Ahern, Hillary Clinton, Sri Lankan ambassador Arjun Gnanendran and Andrew Buckley of The Office, was estimated to be as high as 150,000 people.

The parade usually involves about 12,000 participants, including bagpipers, Irish stepdancers, high school bands, local organizations and other Irish groups.

The official website of the Parade is www.stpatparade.com.