HISTORY OF THE FIFTEENTH ANNUAL ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARADE
| 1996 | A small group walked down Tryon Street with a bagpiper. |
| 1997 | Linda Dyer Hart, along with the Knights of Columbus, revived the Charlotte St. Patrick’s Day Parade & she started the First Annual St. Patrick’s Day Festival, which was held at Independence Park in the Elizabeth neighborhood. The festival featured music, crafts & rugby exhibitions. Pat Terrell, a former football player at Notre Dame and a Carolina Panthers player was the first Grand Marshal. |
| 1998 | The Parade moved to Uptown Charlotte and marched down Tryon Street. The Ancient Order of Hibernians became involved with the Knights of Columbus and with Dyer Hart Productions in organizing the Parade. Bob Knowles, the late newscaster at WBT-TV served as Grand Marshal |
| 1999 | The St. Patrick’s Day Festival was held on Tryon Street between 5th and 6th Street. Rob Walsh who was President of the Center City Partners served grand Marshal. |
| 2000 | The St.Patrick’s Day Parade was led by Grand Marshal Mike Collins of WFAE-FM. The festival moved to the First Union (now Wachovia) Atrium & Plaza. |
| 2001 | Grand Marshal Jerry Healy, principal of Holy Trinity Middle School, led the St. Patrick’s Day Parade this year. |
| 2002 | Deputy Chief David Duffy of the Charlotte Fire Department was the Grand Marshal of the parade and the festival was held at the Wachovia Atrium & Plaza. The Fire Department flew a huge American flag to commemorate those lost in 9/11 as they led the parade down Tryon Street. |
| 2003 | Over 10,000 spectators watched the parade. The Grand Marshal of the parade was Mayor Pat McCrory of the City of Charlotte. Black 47, a popular Irish rock group, performed as headliners. |
| 2004 | Over 20,000 spectators watched the parade. The Grand Marshal of the parade was Ray Farris. The Dublin City Ramblers, a popular Irish group, performed as headliners. |
| 2005 | Over 25,000 spectators watched the parade. The Grand Marshal of the parade was Jim Babb. |
| 2006 | Over 40,000 spectators watched the parade. The Grand Marshal of the parade was Moira Quinn. The Red Herring Irish Band, and Irongrass, a popular local group, performed as headliners.The festival named officially changed to the Charlotte Goes Green Festival. |
| 2007 | While it was a little chilly, we still had over 40,000 spectators turn out to watch the biggest parade yet with over 90 entries. Our Grand Marshall, the Dublin American Bus Connection came over from Dublin with over 30 members to lead the parade through Uptown Charlotte. The Charlotte Goes Green Festival had record crowds that enjoyed the rest of the day with live music and Irish dancers, great Irish/Celtic vendors, good food & drink and plenty to do for the kids. |
| 2008 | We had another huge turnout, despite threatening weather, that saw over 100 entries in the parade, led by our Grand Marshal, WBTV’s Maureen O’Boyle. We even stepped off a little earlier to accommodate the ACC Tournament, which was in town that weekend. The Charlotte Goes Green Festival moved to a new location on Tryon St. & had standing room only crowds for the afternoon validating our decision to move it to a more open space. The music, dancers and many vendors added to the afternoon’s fun. |
| 2009 | We had a wild year for the parade & festival. Due to extreme weather, the parade & festival were moved back one week for the first time ever. Fortunately, the weather was excellent for the make up date and we had our largest crowds ever. Mayor Pat McCrory was our Grand Marshal and over 50,000 spectators turned out to watch the parade. The Charlotte Goes Green Festival once again had capacity crowds as we featured several new Irish/Celtic vendors, great music, the wonderful Irish dancers and much more. |
| 2010 | Over 100 parade units marched down Tryon St. where we had our largest group of spectators to date along with many new groups marching with us for the first year. Our Grand Marshall was Charlotte – Mecklenburg School Superintendant, Dr. Peter Gorman. We were able to expand the footprint of the festival with the opening of the South Tryon cultural zone and enlarged the Celtic Kid’s Zone. ABC News selected the parade & festival as one of the Best 17 places in the U.S. to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in 2010, which was a huge honor. |
| 2011 | Keep watching this website for information about the 2011 parade & festival! |
Remember, the festival is a free festival, open to everyone with no admission charges.
Come on down and be part of the fun and help make this the best year yet!
| For 2011 Sponsorship Opportunities or Vendor Applications (Irish arts/crafts/food), contact Frank Hart. | ||
Click here to see our media sponsors for 2010 |
SPONSORS INCLUDE: |
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