Danbury's St. Patrick's Day is Next Sunday

Danbury's St. Patrick's Day Parade is March 24, which is next Sunday, a week after the official St. Patrick's Day.

"We organized it early, but what happens is Hartford and New Haven can pay the big bucks," said Sean Hearty, a founding member of the Greater Danbury Irish Cultural Center and a bag-piping member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. "We could afford to get the good bands a week later."

The Danbury St. Patrick's Day parade takes place at 2 p.m. Sunday leaving from St. Peter's Church on Main Street before taking West Street to the Greater Danbury Irish Cultural Center.

The parade started from Rogers Park last year and the years before, but because the Irish Cultural Center and its bretheran in the Ancient Order of Hibernians established the Center on West Street, the parade route now turns up West Street. That made the Rogers Park starting point too far away.

"We're going to the Cultural Center. It's a longer walk," Hearty said. "So we're starting at the parking lot next to St. Peter's."

After the parade, people are invited to the club for corned beef sandwiches, desserts, music and drinks. People who march in the parade get free hotdogs and sodas.