St. Patrick’s Day: How New Jersey Celebrates Amid Pandemic

NEW JERSEY — The traditional parades, festivals, races and large parties that often mark the St. Patrick’s Day season and celebrate Irish heritage this month will again mostly not take place this year as the coronavirus pandemic approaches the one-year mark.

In New Jersey, parades in Union County and Woodbridge have been canceled due to virus concerns. Rumson and Belmar also canceled their popular parades.

The celebration in Woodbridge attracts thousands yearly, but will be quieter this year when the American Irish Association of Woodbridge hosts the symbolic raising of the National Flag of Ireland and a rendition of the Irish National Anthem to the salute of traditional Irish bagpipes. Read more: Woodbridge Cancels This Year's St. Patrick's Day Parade

For folks in Union County, this is the second consecutive year the pandemic has caused the event to be canceled. Read more: COVID Cancels 2021 Union County St. Patrick's Day Parade

Even Hoboken's LepreCon bar crawl was canceled despite a website promoting the event, and a bulked up police presence just in case. Read more: Hoboken Will Add Police During Traditional 'LepreCon' Weekend

Many of 2020’s St. Patrick’s Day celebrations were muted at the last minute as the spread of the virus was declared a global pandemic just six days before the March 17 holiday. This year, with more time to prepare, there’s a different vibe as events go on virtually and in more creative ways.

Among the largest yearly neighborhood Irish celebrations across America is Chicago's South Side Irish Parade, which traditionally steps off on the Sunday before St. Patrick’s Day in the tight-knit Beverly community.

“Around here, the day of the South Side Irish Parade is like having Christmas and your birthday on the same day,” Tim McSweeney, co-chair of the South Side Irish Parade committee, told Patch.

Since city of Chicago officials decided not to grant any parade permits until at least April this year, the popular community parade itself was canceled for the second year in a row. But organizers have turned their disappointment into a way to help the small businesses that have supported the parade for years and have been impacted by the pandemic.

McSweeney and other parade organizers this year created “Shamrock Our Blocks,” a neighborhood decorating contest that will award the most creative displays with gift cards to local businesses.

“This keeps the joy and spirit of the South Side Irish Parade alive, celebrates St. Patrick’s Day responsibly during the pandemic and gives people something fun to do,” McSweeney said.

Residents pay $20 for a “Shamrock Our Blocks” sign to enter the contest, with a chance to win the top prize worth $2,000 — $1,000 in cash and another $1,000 in gift cards — McSweeney said. As of Wednesday, hundreds had been sold.

St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in America date back to 1631, according to National Geographic. Originally declared a feast day, over time the holiday increasingly became associated with the Irish American tradition.

The 2020 St. Patrick’s Day holiday celebrations were the first in some places to be canceled in centuries. New York City’s annual parade was not held for the first time since 1762; and Savannah, Georgia, which also hosts one of the nation’s largest parades, canceled its event for the first time since its 1824 inception.

Not all St. Patrick’s Day parades are canceled this year, though. Some — such as the one in Oak Forest, Illinois — are still on. But Oak Forest's parade will be along a different route to allow for greater spacing among spectators.

For McSweeney and others who love the March parade season, the excitement is already in the air for a return to normal come 2022.

“The Irish have come up against adversity in the past. We are no stranger to hard times,” he said. “But we are also known for making the best of a difficult situation, and that’s what we are trying to do.”

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