In 2009, the Cincinnati St. Patrick Parade will celebrate it's 43rd anniversary.

The Grand Marshal for the 2009 Parade is Patrick Downing.

The Honorary Grand Marshal for the 2009 Parade is Fr. Don McCarthy of St. Ignatius parish.

The 2009 Parade is dedicated to the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati.  The Sisters of Charity are celebrating the 200th anniversary of their founding by St. Elizabeth Seton.  The first native-born American saint, St. Elizabeth Seton is credited with initiating the Catholic school system in the United States.

The History of the Parade

The history of the Cincinnati St. Patrick Parade began in 1967.  Several members of the St. Patrick, Division 1, Ancient Order of Hibernians discussed having a parade in St. Patrick's honor.  One member took the first step.  "Big" Jim Murphy secured a religious procession permit for Friday March 17th.  The men started their procession through downtown Cincinnati around 4 p.m.  Catholics of the city and others left work, stores and bars to join the procession.  What started out as a small religious procession with members of the AOH and their families became a large parade.  Traffic on the city streets did not move for over 2 hours.  Since then, it has become a true parade with street closings, floats, pipers, step dancers, Irish families, marching bands, etc.  Because of the chaos that resulted that Friday afternoon, subsequent parades were pushed to a Sunday.  In 2001, the 35th Cincinnati St. Patrick Parade was the first since the beginning to take place on a day other than Sunday.  The City of Cincinnati agreed to have the parade on Saturday, for the first parade of the new Millenium.  In 2009, we will once again be holding the Cincinnati St. Patrick Parade on a Saturday.

In the history of the parade, it has never been cancelled.  The parade has started on sunny days, with folks wearing lightweight jackets, that ended in snow as well as days with streets covered in several inches of snow.  The Irish of Cincinnati come out in all weather to celebrate the life of one of Ireland's greatest Saints.