March 17, 1762 – 1st St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City

Saint Patrick’s Day is observed around the world on March 17 ostensibly to honor Saint Patrick, a successful Christian missionary born in the 4th Century who believed he was called by God to bring Christianity to Ireland. He began his mission to Ireland in 432. By the time of his death in 461, Ireland was almost entirely Christian.

Today, St. Patrick’s Day is more of a celebration of Irish and Irish American culture. The first recorded St. Patrick’s Day celebration in America was in St. Augustine, Florida in the year 1600, organized by the Spanish Colony’s Irish vicar, Ricardo Artur.

NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade

The first observance of the holiday in the Thirteen Colonies on record was in Boston in 1737. New York City’s first recorded Saint Patrick’s Day observance was held on March 16, 1762, but there were no parades until this day in history, “comprised of a band of homesick, Irish ex-patriots and Irish military members serving with the British Army stationed in the colonies in New York.” In 1778 even George Washington’s troops got into the act – there was an observance of the day at Valley Forge. And in 1780, while camped in Morristown, NJ, General Washington allowed his troops a holiday on March 17 “as an act of solidarity with the Irish in their fight for independence.” Not only did a substantial percentage of the Continental Army claimed Irish ancestry, but as the Mount Vernon website reports, “General Washington, and the larger American population, was fascinated by the mounting political unrest in Ireland.

The New York City Saint Patrick’s Day Parade is the oldest ongoing and largest St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the world.

The parade is held annually on March 17th (or the 16th if the 17th falls on a Sunday) at precisely 11:00 am.

NYC Parade, COVID style

As the parade’s website relates, today, the NYC Parade marches up 5th Avenue and is reviewed from the steps of St. Patrick’s Cathedral by the Archbishop of New York. Since it began, this tradition of marching past St. Patrick’s Cathedral has remained unchanged with the exception of the address. In the early years, the Parade would march past the Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral (now Basilica) located at the corner of Mott and Prince Streets in SoHo.

According to the National Retail Foundation (NRF), 62% of consumers plan to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in 2024, up from 54% in 2022 and the highest in the history of the survey. Consumers plan to spend a total of $7.2 billion — or an average of $44.40 per person — on the holiday this year. And who exactly does all this celebrating? The NRF has a chart: