St. Paddy's Parade Will Fill Seaside Heights With Green Rain Or Shine

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, NJ — The Ocean County St. Patrick's Day Parade will take over the Boulevard in Seaside Heights on Saturday, March 9.

The parade will be held rain or shine this year, according to the Ocean County St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee.

Parade day begins with the annual Mass at 10 a.m. at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, 100 Grant Ave., Seaside Heights. Afterward, parade participants stage at J Street, at the south end of the borough, and the parade steps off at noon heading north on the Boulevard to Carteret Avenue.

At the end of the parade is the Massed Band, with all the bagpipe bands playing "Amazing Grace" while the 40-foot American flag is presented. A post-parade party at the Hershey Motel, 1415 Boulevard, follows. The Drunkin' Clams is the featured entertainment.

Kevin Geoghegan, a former Toms River councilman, is the grand marshal for 2024, and the parade is posthumously honoring Erin Ryan, the daughter of Timothy E. Ryan, who took over his funeral home business after his death in 2019. Erin Ryan, who is being honored as Irishwoman of the Year, was a trustee for the Ocean County St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee; she died in December.

The weather forecast for Saturday is for a high temperature near 50 degrees and cloudy, with a 40 percent chance of rain sometime after 1 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.