It’s been two years since we’ve heard bagpipes resonating through the streets of downtown Cleveland. The St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which first happened in 1842 and can draw as many as 400,000 people on a nice day, was halted by the pandemic in both 2020 and 2021.
But this year, it’s coming back better than ever on March 17, especially since participants have had three years to work on their floats. “We’ve waited a long time for this,” says Linda Carney, the executive director of the United Irish Societies of Greater Cleveland. “It gives me goosebumps just thinking about us all coming together again.”