Time to start making plans for the Wearing of the Green. St. Patrick’s Day is kind of a rite of Spring here in the South, when the beer turns as green as the new grass.
These are our Top 5 Picks for 2020 St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations in the South:
5. New Orleans
New Orleans pairs Saint Patrick’s Day with Saint Joseph’s Day Saint Patrick’s Day in New Orleans includes a mass at St. Mary’s Assumption Church followed by a parade to the Irish Channel. St. Joseph’s Day, a holiday celebrated by New Orleans’ Italian-Americans falls on March 19th and includes a parade that marches into the French Quarter.
Officially March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day in New Orleans becomes a week-and-a-half of festivities and fun. Count on three parades and two legendary block parties that involve all sorts of merriment – because having one of anything just won’t do in New Orleans.
4. Savannah
Celebrations aren’t just confined to St. Patrick’s Day in Savannah. They’re rocking the city all month, which is why March is the one of the most popular times to visit Savannah.
St. Patrick’s Day in Savannah is the most exciting time of the year in this Hostess City, with all kinds of events inviting guests to grab their green, get out and have some fun. This monumental popularity didn’t just come overnight; it took 196 years of the famous St. Patrick’s Day Parade to get Savannah on the map. And now Savannah’s St. Patrick’s Day is one of the hottest in the nations, with Savannah ranking the second largest St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the world, drawing more than half a million spectators
3. Tampa
Tied with the most Irish pubs per capita with NYC, Tampa has green rivers, multiple festivals and a parade of Rough Riders.
2. St. Louis
The 51st Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade will take place on Saturday, March 14, 2020, at 12:00 PM in downtown St. Louis. The parade always takes place “rain or shine.” It begins at 20th and Market streets, and proceeds east to its conclusion at Broadway and Clark streets.
Over 250,000 spectators regularly attend, the largest of any event in downtown St. Louis
There’s a 5K Fun Run on Sunday and then bar crawls and more parades on St. Patrick’s Day.
1. Hot Springs , Arkansas
Home to the First Ever 17th Annual World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Appropriately enough, the World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade history begins with an Arkansan of Irish descent sharing a few pints of malted beverage with some friends. As the pub where they had gathered was situated on the World’s Shortest Street in Everyday Use — Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas’, Bridge Street, the conversation evolved into a question of how to use Bridge Street’s 98-foot length to attract visitors to Hot Springs. And so it began.
This year Cheech Marin of Cheech and Chong will be the Grand Marshall, Danny “Machete” Trejo will officially start the parade. Foghat and Blues Traveler will hold a free concert.
