Central Wisconsin may have rich Irish traditions, but Madison stayed away from celebrating St. Patrick’s Day until a UW-Madison student took action a few years ago.
Now, the city’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade is a festive show of culture: the dancing, singing and flag-flying will take place Sunday, March 17.
Casey FitzRandolph, a 2002 Olympic gold-medal winner and Dane County resident, is grand marshalling the parade.
The St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Madison was originally started and organized by a student. When the student graduated a few years ago, the yearly parade briefly stopped.
The community and students joined forces again last year to bring back the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
This year, many of the main parade coordinators are being graded on the turnout. Students are helping out for their final grades in the Facilitating Health and Social Change course.
Jamie Younger is one of the Campus Coordinators of the Parade. Younger estimated attendance for this year’s festivities by looking at past years’ attendance.
“Last year, there were about 4,000 people who attended the parade,” Younger said. “[Last year] was the first time the parade took place on a weekend and on St. Patrick’s Day, so we are anticipating a similar outcome for this year’s parade.”
The celebration will start at noon with an Irish-flag-raising ceremony outside of the Capital. During this time, the Trinity Irish Dancers will also be putting on a show inside of the Capitol.
Floats and dancers begin their route at 1:30 p.m. and will last about an hour and a half. The route of the parade will be around the Capitol Square.
The parade will include bagpipe players, traditional Irish costume and dressed-up kids. Children can win prizes for their costumes in contests such as the “Littlest Leprechaun.”
“There will be almost 35 families participating in this year’s parade,” said Reghan Walsh, co-chair of the St. Patrick’s Day Committee. “There will also be a number of musical groups and many Irish dance groups performing.”
Some of the musical groups performing will be the Braddachs, the Kissers and the Mighty McSnares.
Some of the Irish dance groups who will be performing will be the Cascheldeheny Dancers, Premiere Dance Company and the Trinity Irish Dancers.
At the parade, there will also be buttons and t-shirts available to purchase. All profits of the sales will go to the Children Fund at the UW-Hospital.
UW sophomore Colleen Gaughn said could think of only one addition to this year’s celebrations for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
“I think that the organizers should figure out a way to dye Lake Mendota green,” Gaughn said.
