WAKE FOREST, N.C. – St. Patrick’s Day is this weekend, and Raleigh is celebrating with its 40th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. But this year’s event faced a few challenges.
Organizers say they had trouble with fundraising and adjusting to a new restriction on vehicles allowed in parades, following a deadly crash at a Christmas parade in 2022.
Organizers for the Raleigh St. Patrick’s Day Parade say it cost more than $21,000 to put the event on this year. Spectators may not realize that organizers are responsible for paying for everything needed at the parade, including barricades, permit costs and police officers to cover the route.
In previous years, they’ve raised money by charging groups that want to march in the parade. But now that motorized vehicles aren’t allowed, not as many groups are participating, which makes the future of the parade more uncertain.
Christopher Cooke, a founding member of the An Gorta Mor Memorial Pipe Band, said the group is excited to march in Raleigh’s 40th St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
“It's an expression of our culture and we get to really celebrate being Irish that day,” Cooke said.
“The major change didn't affect us, which was the motorized vehicles. So we're all foot powered and breath powered. So, you know, we're OK without a float,” Cooke said.
The Raleigh City Council voted in September 2023 to restrict motorized vehicles in parades after 11-year-old Hailey Brooks was hit by a truck, and died in the 2022 Christmas parade.
Cooke believes safety needs to be a top priority but he also said that change is impacting which groups can participate and their fundraising efforts.
“In order to march in the parade, the groups have to pay a small fee, and they have to pay a slightly larger fee if they had a float. And if there's no floats, that cuts the funding to the parade significantly,” Cooke said.
“Every year we want to see things grow. We don't want we don't want things to disappear because once they disappear, they're not going to come back,” Cooke said.
According to organizers, the Hibernian Pubs and the Ancient Order of Hibernians donated about $11,000 combined to help cover parade costs. Organizers are already working to fundraise for next year’s event.
The 2024 Raleigh St. Patrick’s Day Parade kicks off at 10 a.m. on Saturday at the end of Hillsborough Street downtown and will continue down Fayetteville Street.
The City of Raleigh said the original decision, to only allow non-motorized parades, was made out of an abundance of caution and out of respect for Hailey Brooks’ loved ones. However, an attorney for the Brooks family said, the family wasn’t asked about the change and wants the city to honor their daughter by enacting safety protections for parades.