No parades or large gatherings this year, but shamrocks and beer will still be part of local St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. (Sabree Hill, Uptown Messenger file photo)
The Irish Channel St. Patrick’s Day Club has canceled the Irish Channel Parade for the second year in a row as the coronavirus continues community spread. Additionally, the annual block party at Annunciation Playground benefiting St. Michael Special School is canceled.
But New Orleanians have found a way to celebrate, along with some Irish and Irish-at-heart brethren in Chicago. Shamrock Our Blocks, the brainchild of the Chicago’s Southside Irish Parade Organization, is applying the Yardi Gras concept to St. Patrick’s Day.
Cabbages, potatoes and carrots will not fly overhead in the Irish Channel for the second year in a row, but there’s no reason to stew over a subdued St. Patrick’s Day in the era of covid restrictions. Cravings for a celebration will be met by Shamrock Our Blocks, a grassroots do-it-yourself initiative for the upcoming holiday.
As the pandemic stretches past the one-year mark in mid-March, the annual Irish Channel St. Patrick’s Day parade that draws thousands to the Uptown neighborhood named for its 19th-century immigrant population has been canceled for a second time. Though crowds will not gather along Magazine Street and St. Charles Avenue for this high-spirited rite of spring best known for legions of tuxedoed lads exchanging paper carnations for a kiss and float riders tossing every ingredient but corned beef and mutton for a traditional feast enterprising locals have come up with a safe alternative for indulging in all things Irish.