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| A spectator looks on as the Chicago River is dyed green ahead of the St. Patrick's Day parade in Chicago, Saturday, March, 16, 2013. With the holiday itself falling on a Sunday, many celebrations were scheduled for Saturday because of religious observances. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty) |
NEW YORK (AP) — The Irish, their descendants and the Irish for the day prepared to don green and pay tribute to Hibernian heritage as a weekend of St. Patrick's Day celebrations was set from New York's Fifth Avenue to the Louisiana bayou to Dublin's Parnell Square.
With the holiday itself falling on a Sunday, many observances were scheduled instead for Saturday because of religious observances. In New York, a massive St. Patrick's Day Parade that predates the United States was due to proceed Saturday, with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny among the marchers. Chicago was preparing for its own big parade and an eye-catching local custom: dyeing the Chicago River green.
Dublin's five-day St. Patrick's Day festival was unfolding with a new addition. For the first time, up to 8,000 visitors from around the world were due to march in a "People's Parade" on Sunday, when Ireland's capital city also intends hold its usual procession of bands and pageantry.
Kenny, who visited Chicago for St. Patrick's Day last year, was again making the holiday a jumping-off point for an extended trip to the U.S., with stops in Washington and on the West Coast over the ensuing several days.
"I will use my visit to promote Ireland's many strengths and to further reinforce our deep and abiding political and economic relationship with the United States," Kenny said in a statement this week.