Due to concerns about the spreading of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, Corktown’s 62nd Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade has been canceled.
Updated 6:23 p.m. on Wednesday, March 11:
"In final preparation for the planning of the 62nd Annual Detroit St. Patrick’s Parade, the parade leadership team, in conjunction with Governor Whitmer’s and Mayor Duggan’s teams, met and we all agreed it was best to cancel this year’s parade and the St. Patrick’s Parade Corktown Races," Parade Co-Chair Mike Kelly said in a statement. "The health and safety of our participants, spectators, local businesses and sponsors is our top priority, especially after we learned about the first cases of COVID-19 in Michigan today."
Original post:
We metro Detroiters are pretty damn lucky. One of the biggest, rowdiest, and — dare we say — greenest St. Patrick’s Day celebrations is right in our backyard, when the streets of Detroit’s historic Corktown neighborhood are flooded with some 100,000 shamrock-wearing, green-beer-drinking party people looking to celebrate, you know, the arrival of Christianity in Ireland and, you know, drinking before breakfast.
This year marks the 62nd annual celebration of Detroit’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which kicks off at 1 p.m. near Sixth Street and Michigan Avenue and will move west with marching bands, festive floats, color guards, clowns, and this year’s Grand Marshal, Peggy Gray, granddaughter of Irish immigrants and contributor to Parade Times, a St. Paddy’s Day Parade fundraising publication. This year’s parade, which is made possible by 35 metro Detroit Irish organizations in partnership with the Parade Company, will benefit Detroit’s St. Pat’s Senior Center, Bridges Beyond Boxing, the Solanus Casey Center, and the UIS Scholarship Fund — because, yeah, drinking is fun, but there’s no hangover when you give back. Oh, and for those looking to avoid the sloppy drinkers — in other words, the non-Irish partiers — consider this year’s reserved Family Fun Zone.
The 62nd Annual Detroit St. Patrick’s Parade begins at 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 15 at Sixth Street and Michigan Avenue, Detroit; detroitstpatricksparade.com; event is free and open to the public.
See more Saint' Patrick's Day parties here.
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