What it's like to march in Pittsburgh's St. Paddy's Day parade
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Sláinte, Pittsburgh! Photos: Chrissy Suttles and Ryan Deto / Axios
If you want to know what the city's annual St. Patrick's Day Parade is like, you have to march in it.
Why it matters: Pittsburgh's St. Patrick's Day Parade is one of the nation's largest, drawing as many as 350,000 people Downtown each year, per Visit Pittsburgh, and the city goes all in on the revelry.
Driving the news: Chrissy and Ryan marched in the parade last Saturday. Four hours of walking and waiting proved it's one of the region's best parties.
How it works: The parade kicked off at 10am at Liberty Avenue and 11th Street, but we reported to our staging area at 8:45am near Old St. Patrick's Church in the Strip District, the city's oldest Irish Catholic church.
- Bands and dancers rehearsed, marchers finished their floats, and green-bearded leprechauns zipped past on scooters.
- We were posted between the Perry Traditional Academy High School dancers and Noone-Murphy Ancient Order of Hibernians Division 21, handing out green beads, candy and Axios Pittsburgh swag.
- We started marching at 10:45am and dispersed just after 12:30pm at the United Steelworkers tower on Boulevard of the Allies.
The vibe: Electric. Jalapeño Hannah high-fived her way down the route, but we struck out trying to interview Steely McBeam about our QB prospects.
- Everyone was in a good mood and willing to share stories, mingle and take photos.
- "It's about community," said County Councilperson Bethany Hallam. "It's people from all different backgrounds, different organizations and everyone's coming together."
What we learned: Beaded necklaces are among the hottest items on the route.
- When kids saw our stash, they started shouting "beads" in unison and cleaned us out within minutes.
- A few people recognized the Axios newsletter as we handed out postcards. Thanks for reading!
The bottom line: Pittsburghers are so loyal to the parade that not even the Blizzard of '93 — 25 inches of snow — could stop it.