PEORIA For the second year in a row, the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted the cancellation of the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
The event’s organizer, the St. Patrick’s Society of Peoria, also has called off its annual March 17 party, usually hosted after the parade at the Peoria Civic Center.
“We will not be hosting a parade or a party this year,” said the society’s president, Theresa Hoadley.
Last year’s March 17 parade also canceled was to be the 40th consecutive such celebration in Peoria. The parade, which the St. Patrick’s Society calls the biggest statewide held on the actual holiday, first kicked off in 1981.