Volunteers to be honoured at St. Patrick’s Day parade

REGISTRATION for this year’s St. Patrick’s Day parade will be open up to Thursday ( March 16).

The theme of this year’s parade is volunteers, to coincide with Sligo being the European City of Volunteering for 2017.

Volunteers will be awarded with a certificate following the parade at Stephen’s Street Car Park, to honour all of their hard work.

There are almost 100 volunteers walking in the parade.

This year, Sligo BID and members of the Sligo St. Patrick’s Day committee have joined forces for the event.

Gail McGibbon, CEO of BID, says the knowledge and experience of the committee is vital in the organisation of the annual parade.

“We’ve a great number of floats so far. There’s been a huge response. There is a great awareness from those who have entered floats into the parade, and that’s a testament to the committee that was there for the previous 40 years.

“It’s been a learning curve for BID since we’ve been working with the committee on the parade and we needed them to be involved because they know exactly how it works and they have done a wonderful job on the parade for the last 40 years or so,” she added.

There will be a family fun event in the car park afterwards with lots of music and dance too.

The numerous bands who travel from Northern Ireland each year are a vital component of the Sligo St. Patrick’s Day parade.

Gail was thrilled when, upon meeting with the bands, to hear them describe marching in the parade with such pride.

“We have seven bands coming from Northern Ireland who have come every year for the last 13 years. I have to say it was lovely meeting them. They used the word ‘ honour’ in relation to marching in the parade. There was a time when they weren’t allowed march in their own parades so there is a huge sense of loyalty from them towards the parade.

“They have a wonderful relationship with the committee. I thought it was just lovely.

“We’re going to see if we can grow it into a two day festival in the coming years,” she said.

Registration will stay open until the night before the parade.

“We’ll make sure that anyone who wants to be in the parade will be.”

There will be a bucket collection around the town on the day to offset the costs of the parade and to ensure funds are available for next year’s event. Anyone looking to register for their parade can do so at info@ sligobid. ie or gail@ sligobid. ie.

For more check out the website sligostpatricksday. com. Parade times Sligo - 12pm Enniscrone - 1.30pm Easkey - 3pm Grange - 2pm Riverstown - 2.30pm Ballymote - 3.30pm