Clevelanders ready for the return of the St. Patrick's Day Parade

St. Patrick's Day is one the busiest days of the year for Downtown Cleveland and after a two-year coronavirus hiatus, the St. Patrick's Day parade is back Thursday.

The parade route runs west on Superior Avenue starting at East 18th Street and ending at Public Square.

For many Clevelanders, the cancellation of the St. Patrick’s Day parade in 2020 was the moment the COVID-19 pandemic started to feel like a big deal.

Linda Carney, Executive Director of the United Irish Societies of Greater Cleveland, says the parade's return will be a monumental day for Cleveland.

"Everybody's looking forward to getting together and gather, which is not what we've been able to do like we normally used to do,” Carney said. “Boy it sure feels like we're getting closer to a little bit more normal."

Akron already tested the new sense of normal when it held its St. Patrick's Day Parade Saturday down a revamped portion of South Main Street. That parade, too, had been canceled in 2020 and 2021.

In Cleveland, where the parade is always on St. Patrick's Day itself, Parnell's Irish Pub in Playhouse Square is always a very popular stop, even though it's a couple of blocks from the parade route.

Parnell's owner Declan Synott said he's cautiously optimistic about the celebration's return from COVID-19.

"We're out of the woods, but are we? You know what I mean? We're not trying to be cynical, but we don't want to pack people into the place. That's when you have trouble,” Synott said. “Hopefully this is the start of many to come back."

Parnell's has been allowing only 70 percent capacity in the bar and will continue to do so on St. Patrick's Day.

According to the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA), St. Patrick's Day is also typically their single largest ridership day.

RTA will operate three-car trains on the red line and two-car trains on the blue and green lines throughout Thursday.

RTA will also increase the number of employees at the following stations: Brookpark, Puritas, Triskett, West 117 and Tower City.

Some RTA busses will be rerouted for the holiday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can read the reroute schedule here.

Masks are still required on RTA.

Cleveland law enforcement officials are asking the public to make plans before coming to the parade. They want people to be prepared with meeting places and times for their groups and families and to bring charged cell phones and drinking water.

“It is arguably the single largest event in the state of Ohio. Larger than a Browns game, larger than a Buckeyes game, if you figure we're going to have a concentration of people in one area on a single day,” said Harold Pretel, Cleveland’s Deputy Chief of Homeland Special Operations. “If you see something that is out of order, please inform one of our partners.”

Fire Chief Angelo Cavillo said the department will again hold its fallen firefighters memorial service prior to the parade at the memorial sculpture next to First Energy Stadium.

“The memorial honors our fallen brother firefighters, the bravest of the brave, who have made the ultimate sacrifice in performance of their duties,” Cavillo said. “78 firefighters have died in the line of duty since 1863."

The weather forecast during the parade is ideal: sunny with temperatures in the high 60s.

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