Area Parades Help Launch St Patrick’s Day
by Alex Lloyd Gross
Parades in Philadelphia, Levittown, Delco and beyond helped usher in this years St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Hundreds of Thousands of people showed up across the region to see them.
In Levittown, the festivities started hours before the 10:30 AM start to the parade, with people who staked out their spot close to New Falls Road, Between Appletree and Keston Drive in Bristol Twp, people brought out potable fie pits and plenty to eat and drink. Vendors strolled up and down the parade route with balloons, pretzels, and t shirts. Some sold toys that spun in the wind, lie pinwheels.
Alan Dumoff Photo- Parade goes hold a mini tailgate hours before the parade will march up New Falls Road.
With the political climate very polarizing, this year’s parade had some protestors, who marched before the parade or stood around watching the parade, taunting the Grand Marshal, who was Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick. The protested against Elon Musk. In previous parades, he rode in an open car or even walked the parade route. This year, he walked very little and rode in a large truck. He exchanged pleasantries at the viewing stand and then left in the middle of the parade.
The parade was filled with Irish dancers and several string bands like Greater Kensington and Aqua. In Philadelphia, the parade ran from LOVE Park and up the Ben Franklin Parkway. Most people that showed up were wearing green of some sort. If they were not, they could get it very easily by any of the vendors that made a good living selling their wares.
Photo by Alan Dumoff The parade marches up New Falls Road in Levittown.
The Philadelphia parade is the largest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the region.