Reduced yet revelrous St. Patrick's Day parade returns to Montreal

The sound of bagpipes and drums filled the streets of downtown Montreal Sunday as the St. Patrick's Day parade graced the city'sstreets after a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 197th edition of the parade kicked off at 9:30 a.m., instead of inthe afternoon like in previous years, and ran along Sainte-Catherine Street from Lambert-Closse Street to Union Street.

While scaled down in size, with no parade floats and a sparser crowd, revellerssportinggreen hats and green plastic rain ponchos turned out in high spiritsto watch the musicians and marchers make their way down the route.

"It was funto come out after twoyears of not coming out," said Katie McAuliffe, along with her young son Aziz.

"We always come every year so this was a nice parade," she said, despite the drizzling rain.

The March celebration of Irish culture was among the first events to be cancelled in 2020 and then again in 2021 due to the pandemic. But as COVID-19 protocols are being lifted across Canada, the event was reintroduced this year with fewer participants.

Daniel Boninhas been coming out for the parade for 35 years straight, only missing the past two years due to the pandemic.

"It's the way Montrealers say 'enough of winter,'" said the green-bearded man."St. Patrick'sDay is our 'hello to spring' parade."

Montreal Mayor Valrie Plante was also among the participants leading the parade.

"We are celebrating the Irish communities of Montreal today with the much-anticipated return of the traditional parade," Plante said on Twitter Sunday.

The United Irish Societies of Montrealhadbeen rushingto prepare for the parade, finding out only three weeks prior from public health officials that they would be permitted to hold it, as restrictions started gradually lifting across the province.

Spokesperson for the society Kevin Tracey says in a typical year, there can be up to4,000 people taking part in the parade, something the society is hoping will be possible by next year.

"This year, we're limiting it to 500 people," he said, referring to an agreement the society made with the city prior to the lifting of some pandemic restrictions.

Despite describing this year'sparade "kind of like wearing your pants backwards," Tracey saida lot of people have been "really looking forward to this."

Montreal police said the parade ended peacefully and required no interventions.

A parade featuring Irish dancing and music was held in Hudson, Que, onSaturday afternoon and anotherin the Eastern Townships inRichmond, Que, was held Sunday.

WATCH| Professor of Irish Studies reflects on meaning of St. Patrick's Day:

Remembering the Irish Montrealers who marked the city's history

3 years ago

Duration 4:09

Jane McGaughey, is Chair of Qubec and Canadian Irish Studies at Concordia University and was the speaker at this year's St. Patrick's Society luncheon