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St. Patrick's New York: 2024 Parade and More

Green Party: NYC St. Paddy's parade and more on Saturday, March 16th, 2024

Thirteen percent of New York traces its heritage to the Emerald Island, but on St. Paddy’s everyone in the city is Irish for a day. (Or in 2024, maybe Irish for two days, as St. Patrick's proper falls on Sunday, March 17th, while the main Manhattan St. Patrick's Day Parade takes place on Saturday, March 16th.)

fifth avenue st patricks day parade nyc

Photo: Joe Buglewicz

The city’s main event is the St. Patrick's Day Parade, which marches up Fifth Avenue from 44th to 79th Street starting at 11am on Saturday the 16th. You can watch for free anywhere along the route, although earlier arrivals get closer vantages. This year’s Grand Marshal is Margaret C. “Maggie” Timoney, the President & CEO of Heineken USA, which is based in New York. Look for floats, dancers, and plenty of bagpipers.

McSorley's

Image: Jeff Rosen/Flickr

The parade runs until late afternoon, at which point the city’s bars swell with revelers. (Actually, some of the bars get going at breakfast time Saturday morning. McSorley’s Old Ale House in the East Village is a prime example, and it will be completely packed throughout St. Paddy’s weekend. As traditions go, it’s a long one in NYC, with a history that dates back to 1854 and Abraham Lincoln counted among its former patrons.) 

ST. PATRICK’S HAPPENINGS AROUND TOWN

a taste of ireland

The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture in the Village presents A Taste of Ireland—The Irish Music & Dance Sensation from Friday, March 8th, through Friday, March 15th. The show tells the story of Ireland’s tumultuous history, featuring former World Irish dance champions and Lord of the Dance performers. With revamped versions of classics like "Danny Boy," "Tell Me Ma," and "Wild Rover," the show's score blossoms alongside the brash Irish charm of the cast. You can expect a thrilling blend of cultural traditions, modern flair, and craic galore. Get 20% off with this discount code (not valid for Friday's show),

irish outsiders

Image: Keiko Niwa 

The Tenement Museum explores the immigrant experience, with a historic building on the Lower East Side that was home to more than 7,000 people from 20 nations. Today you can take tours of rooms dedicated to residents across diverse eras in addition to neighborhood walking tours. To better understand the Irish immigrant experience in New York, check out the daily After the Famine: 1869 tour. You’ll visit a re-creation of the apartment of Joseph and Bridget Moore and learn how music, politics, and religion came together to form a complex Irish-American identity.

Jameson Irish Whiskey is trying out a new holiday for 2024: St. Patrick’s Eve. Saturday,  March 16th there will be a Times Square takeover in Times Square Plaza between 43rd and 44th Streets. Look for a live DJ, giveaways, and a "rock drop" drawing on the Ball Drop at midnight Irish time (8pm in NYC). The event runs 6-10pm.

Drom is a beacon of diverse music in the East Village. They’re getting into the party spirit of St. Paddy’s as the home base for the Kiss Me, I’m Irish: New York City St. Patrick’s Day Bar Crawl. Running Friday, Saturday, and Sunday as well, maps and wristbands give you access to a series of great neighborhood bars, with plenty of drink specials to keep the good times flowing.

Chelsea Market is hosting a St. Patrick’s Day celebration on Sunday. Participating vendors will be serving up everything that makes St. Patrick’s Day special, including beer, corned beef and cabbage, and soda bread. Specials include:

  • Amy’s Bread, serving traditional Irish Soda Bread, Guinness Cakes with Bailey’s Frosting, and other St. Paddy’s-themed treats
  • Dickson’s Farmstand Meats, $5 green beers, traditional corned beef and cabbage, and other menu specials running all day
  • Creamline, in collaboration with A Taste of Economy Candy, is releasing a limited-time St. Patrick’s Day Milkshake with Junior Mints, Green Whipped Cream, and chocolate coins

In addition to the festive food and drink specials, Chelsea Market will have Irish Step Dancers from The Niall O’Leary School of Irish Dance from 6-7pm.

On Sunday­ you can get out on the water aboard Ferrytale of New York: A Saint Patrick’s Afternoon Booze Cruise with Dark Streets. A Rocks Off Concert Cruise departs from the East River with a tribute band inspired by the music of Shane MacGowan and The Pogues.

Sunday afternoon head to Brooklyn's Jalopy Theatre for a session of Irish music with Christy McNamara on concertina and button accordion and David Sidman on guitar.

The Standard Biergarten celebrates St. Patrick's Day with shamrock green Jell-O shots, green beer draughts, Irish coffees, a roasted beef sandwich with tomato, arugula, and lemon aioli, and much more.

In Hell’s Kitchen, the Irish Arts Center sets its programming around the culture of contemporary Ireland and Irish America. Saturday the 16th is their annual St. Patrick’s Open Day, a free family-friendly event with traditional music and dance performances, workshops and demos, and children’s crafts and activities. On Sunday the 17th, there will be two Cherish the Ladies performances of Irish music. Irish-American flute and whistle player Joanie Madden leads an all-star lineup that includes guitar, fiddle, piano, and accordion, along with dancing from 5-time world champion David Geaney, world champion Tyler Schwartz, and All Britain Champion and Riverdance alumni Noel Spillane.

dervish band irish

Irish folk stars Dervish will play Adler Hall at the New York Society for Ethical Culture on Friday, March 15th, for their 30th annual U.S. tour. 

gaelic storm

Looking ahead into the week after St. Patrick's, Town Hall will host a high-powered Irish music double header on Thursday, March 21st: Gaelic Storm and The High Kings. Gaelic Storm (above) is a Celtic band that blends traditional Irish and Scottish music with original tunes, while The High Kings hail from Dublin and have been thrilling fans of Irish folk music since 2008.

The 13th Annual Sober St. Patrick's Day grand celebration brings together Irish music, Irish step-dancing, Irish books, and Irish food, on Saturday the 16th in the late afternoon at the Church of the Epiphany in Gramercy.

Time Out Market New York is throwing a major St. Patrick’s Day celebration with live entertainment, drink specials, lots of eats, and Irish cheer. Sunday, March 17th the party kicks off with DJ DWAI, who will share a special promo code for free raffle tickets and a prize wheel. A performance by women-owned and -led dance group the Brooklyn Irish Dance Company follows.

DOWNTOWN MEMORIAL

spring irish hunger memorial battery park

Ludovic Bertron/Flickr

If you’re around the Battery, stop by the distinctive Irish Hunger Memorial near Brookfield Place. This structure recalls the Great Irish Famine from 1845 to 1852, during which over one million people died of hunger. The walkable memorial recreates a rural Irish landscape with native plants from the north Connacht wetlands and low walls of Kilkenny limestone. Designed by Brian Tolle, the Irish Hunger Memorial not only points to the past but to the pressing realities of world hunger today.

About the Author

Ethan Wolff is the author of numerous guidebooks to New York, having covered the city for more than two decades. He has written for New York Magazine, BlackBook, and Details, among others. In addition to his work as the editor of City Guide, Ethan covers NYC’s talk and lecture scene for the website Thought Gallery. He lives with his wife and two daughters in the Windsor Terrace neighborhood of Brooklyn.

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