It’s official, the Patchogue St. Patrick’s Day parade has been postponed, Patchogue Village officials informed greaterpatchogue.com.
The date will be moved from March 21 to Sept. 19 — which is the “halfway mark” to the holiday.
David Kennedy, executive director of the Greater Patchogue Chamber of Commerce, confirmed the village will be celebrating the Irish holiday at a later date.
The parade will be held on the same weekend as Patchogue’s St. Liberata festival and Hispanic Heritage festival, Kennedy said.
The Hispanic heritage festival will be on Friday, Sept. 17, the St. Liberata festival on Saturday, Sept. 18, and the weekend will be capped off on that Sunday with the St. Patrick’s Day parade.
“We are really excited to be one of the first communities I think to really do a full Patchogue cultural heritage weekend celebration,” Kennedy said. “We’ll get to honor all the historically important cultures that Patchogue proud to have as an important part of our growth.”
Kennedy said the village will still honor St. Patrick’s Day on the weekend that would be the parade on March 21 with their passing of the sash tradition.
This event that normally announces the grand marshall of the parade will actually be a retention of the sash, Kennedy says, but will be celebrated with an Irish soda bread contest.
The restaurants will make their own version of the Irish delicacy for people to taste and vote on their favorite one.
Kennedy said there is hope that the COVID-19 pandemic will be under control by the time they hold the parade in September.
“We feel confident by the end of September to be able to do these events will be allowed,” he said. “Obviously if that isn’t’ the case, then we will adjust as it gets closer to it.”
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2019’s St. Patrick’s Day parade
Top: Patchogue’s St. Patrick’s Day parade 2019 (file photo).
