St. Patrick's Day Parade Hits Royal Oak Streets Saturday

ROYAL OAK, MI — St. Patrick’s Day doesn’t officially arrive until March 17. But that’s not going to stop the Oakland County St. Patrick’s Day Parade from hitting the streets of Royal Oak Saturday. With more than 1,000 people expected to participate and thousands more watching, the city will be awash in green.

The Ancient Order of Hibernians started the parade nearly two decades ago. Today, it’s one of the largest in the county and features floats, pipers and dancers. The St. Paddy’s Dash 5K run and walk gets the festivities going at 10 a.m. A post race party will be held at O’Toole’s at 10:45 a.m.

Kids can get in on the running action at 11:20 a.m. with the quarter-mile Lucky Leprechaun Dash. The annual parade then follows at 11:30 a.m. on Washington Street at the Royal Oak middle school. Here are five other things to know about this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Royal Oak celebration:

Saying Goodbye: This year marks Chairman Steve Zannetti’s final parade before his retirement. “I’m trying to make it a good one,” Zannetti told C&G Newspapers. “It looks like it’s going to be bigger and better than ever.”

The Marshals: Grand Marshals for this year are Christine and Mike O’Sullivan from O’Sullivan’s Moving & Storage. The Honorary Marshal will be Bishop Robert Fisher of Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica in Royal Oak. “He will start the parade with a prayer and then walk in the parade,” volunteer Carol Hennessey the Daily Tribune newspaper.

Bagpipes aplenty: The Shrine Highlanders and the Carba Feidh, and seven individual pipers are scheduled to provide music for the parade. “We’ll have around 35 different groups and about 1,000 people taking part in this year’s parade,” Zannetti told the Daily Tribune. “You got to have the pipers to get the music into the parade and make it festive.”

The party: Following the parade, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, located at 401 E. Fourth St., will host St. Patrick’s Day party. The event, held upstairs, will include live music, Irish dancers, dinner and beverages.

Don’t take a poke at these guys: A parade appearance will be made by 13 Irish prizefighters. Zannetti told C&G newspapers: “There will be a lot more entertainment (this year).”

Photo by Aurelien Guichard via Flickr Commons