Return of Cork City parade 'that people know and love'

50,000 expected as St Patrick’s Day parade returns after two years

Members of Amdie Latin American Dance Community who are taking part in the St Patrick's Day parade in Cork. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Two years ago, just days out from St Patrick’s Day, parades across the country were brought to a halt as the word “pandemic” entered our everyday vocabulary.

While the pandemic is not yet completely behind us, the St Patrick’s Day parade “that people know and love” will return to the streets of Cork on Thursday in full technicolour. Crowds of up to 50,000 are predicted to gather for the biggest event in the city centre since 2020.

Kicking off at 1pm on Thursday from South Mall, and live-streamed online from 12.45pm, this year’s parade celebrates the ordinary heroes that have brought us through extraordinary times.

“Over the last two years, it’s the ordinary heroes, the frontline workers, and the volunteers who have really shown us the best of what we are. ‘Heroic’ is something that we’ve come to understand as a much more humble or simple concept than the idea of the superhero,” said Cork City Council arts officer Michelle Carew.

Grand marshals of this year’s parade are charity Blood Bike South, which provides a free out-of-hours service for public hospitals. Its team of three bikes, one car, and 65 volunteers deliver medical supplies from 7pm to 7am Monday to Friday, and 24 hours a day over weekends.

Delivery of PPE

During the pandemic, the charity made nightly deliveries of Covid-19 test samples from Cork to Dublin before the national testing infrastructure was in place. It also organised nationwide logistics for delivery of PPE to frontline workers.

Chairman Martin O’Driscoll said the charity was just a small part of the “amazing” collective action over the past two years.

“People rowed in together as much as possible. People were amazing to each other, to neighbours, getting prescriptions for elderly people. There was so much going on at a small local level and we were just a small part of that,” he said.

Usually, Blood Bike South volunteers spend St Patrick’s day clearing the crowd before the parade begins. Mr O’Driscoll said it would be nice to be seen walking at the front of the parade for a change, without helmets and high-vis jackets, and recognised for their work.

Tania Pantoja is the director and group choreographer of Cork-based dance group Amdie. Having made its colourful debut in the St Patrick’s Day parade in 2019, Ms Pantoja said the group is back this year to showcase Latin American culture and community in the rebel county.

“We are super excited. We have been practising for months now, not even knowing that we would have a parade but did anyway, and we have costumes from Mexico specially designed for the parade. We’re really grateful to Ireland for making this such a really inclusive day. It gives us a voice and does make us feel that we are part of the community,” she said.

Barry O'Regan with members of the Rising Sun karate school, based at Ballinlough youth centre, who are taking part in the parade. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Sensei Barry O’Regan of Rising Sun School of Karate said the members are “buzzing” to be resuming a tradition of walking in the parade and, almost as importantly for more than 100 children in the karate group, back to the exclusive after-party in Garryduff Sports Centre.

“We usually do a small demonstration, everybody faces the lord mayor and gives a few punches and a few roars and a few blocks. It’s a bit crazy, like Braveheart or something, but it’s good and of course I’ll be there to supervise,” Mr O’Regan said.

Cork Environmental Forum (CEF) will be bringing colour and fun with their costumes and float, working with Mahon Youth Group and Cork Community Bikes to highlight biodiversity, sustainable travel, water quality, and upcycling.

“We were just seeing a chink of light after Covid, and now the situation in Ukraine has really dampened down people’s spirits again. We need a bit of light-hearted fun and colour to balance ourselves out,” said CEF development co-ordinator Bernie Connolly.

“We’re also trying to highlight the environmental crisis that isn’t getting enough attention and keeps getting swamped out by other things. It’s important to bring that into focus again with our float.”

Parade-goers should also keep their eyes peeled for a ‘heart of Cork’ created by Cork Puppetry Company and a giant articulated granny walking down Patrick’s Street with Cork Community Art Link, to symbolise the matriarchal heroes of the pandemic.

A jam-packed calendar of events are planned for the weekend, including traditional music Lee Sessions, gigs from the Mary Wallopers and Dara Ó Briain, the St Patrick’s Hill Ball Run, tours of Crawford Gallery and Cork City Gaol, Nano Nagle Place markets, and a Celtic Steps performances at the Marina Market.

A full line-up of festivities across the four-day festival weekend can be found at www.corkcity.ie/en/cork-st-patricks-festival/.