St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Holyoke

by Bill Dusty



It was a sunny day that may have started out a bit chilly, but ended up just right. Last Sunday’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Holyoke, MA – the second largest St. Paddy’s Day Parade in the country (after NYC’s) – brought in huge crowds who lined the streets as a host of marching bands, floats, and cars passed along the parade route. The food stands were out in force, and folks mingled with snacks and drinks in-hand as the parade went on. The parade itself didn’t kick off until perhaps about 12:30pm, and it stopped frequently – reportedly to give folks watching more time to enjoy the show.

The Springfield Intruder arrived at about 11:40am to take a few photos of the event, plus some video. At one point a helicopter flew in extremely low while we were all waiting for the parade to start, and that moment was captured in the first clip of the assembled video (the “live” experience, however, was much louder and more dramatic).

According to this Springfield Republican story by Jeanette Deforge, there were 20,000 marchers in the parade, along with 36 bands and 34 floats. That’s pretty big. Officials estimated a crowd of about 300,000 came out to see the parade.

Below are some photos taken at the parade, followed by a 9-minute long video.

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The feast before the parade.


John P. McCaffrey, his daughter, Rose, and neice, Megan, wait for the parade to start.


This year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade Grand Colleen, Ashley M. Reidy.

Overheard at the Parade: [a Holyoke police officer, to a couple walking along drinking cans of Budweiser] “Hey! Folks! You can’t drink those Budweisers on the street. If you’re going to drink beer, put it in a cup!”


U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Beatty, running to take the seat of incumbent John Kerry, brought along his own tank to the parade.


Smokey The Bear stopped by.


The Springfield Lodge of Elks created this “Old First Church” float in honor of its namesake in Springfield, MA, which recently closed its doors after centuries of worship.


That’s an awful big “Y” on the side of that car.

Overheard at the Parade: [a young Puerto Rican guy, to his friend]: “Only white people can do this.”


Bart and Homer Simpson came down from Springfield, Vermont (I guess).


ABC40/Fox6 showed up toward the end of Springfield’s marching contingent. Fox 6 is expected to begin newscasts in April.

MORE PHOTOS ARE AVAILABLE OVER HERE.

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VIDEO: The Holyoke St. Patrick’s Day Parade

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Posted by on Apr 1st, 2008 and filed under Cities & Towns, Feature Stories, Holyoke, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

3 Responses for “St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Holyoke”

  1. Jim Polito says:
    April 1, 2008 at 8:28 am

    Bill, good job on coverage of the parade. The helicopter was the state police. Since 9/11 they have been a fixture up and down the route. Kind of an eye in the sky. I flew with them a couple of times. The camera mounted under the helicopter is incredible. It has infared and heat sensitive capabilities. It can also lock on to a moving target and follow it without the operator adjusting the camera.

    The pictures were good. However, I found the “feast before the parade” shot a little disturbing. I’m sure it was some type of pork BBQ but it also looks like a headless human torso on a table.

    Keep up the good work.

  2. Bill Dusty says:
    April 1, 2008 at 9:32 am

    Thanks for the chopper tip, Jim ;-)

    Hmm, as far as the carcass goes… you know, that guy sort of does look like the coroner on “CSI”.

  3. dave says:
    April 1, 2008 at 9:58 am

    When I looked at the first picture, I thought it looked like a body also. Actually, more like an alien?

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