Parade puts emphasis on community rather than commercial floats

THE decision to delay Kilkenny’s St Patrick’s Day Parade until 4.30pm, after the Cheltenham Gold Cup and other parades across the south-east, proved a regrettable one weather-wise yesterday.

While the atmosphere was better than ever and the parade a huge hit, the temperatures dipped even further and bitterly cold rain misted down, making it hard to stand in any one spot for long.

But it didn’t dampen the spirits as festival revellers, among them Americans, French and Polish families, lined the winding parade route, anxious to snap up all of the best vantage points.