Dogtown St. Patrick’s Day Parade

If the weather is nice, it’s awesome!!!

The Dogtown Parade is a good one. It has the frenetic energy of the Mardi Gras Grand Parade, but it’s located in cozy Dogtown instead of on a barren stretch of Broadway. It has the more positive feel of the Saturday St. Patrick’s Day Parade, but also has the benefit of feeling a little more intimate and fun. All around, it’s a good middle-​of-​the-​road experience that transforms the neighborhood into a virtual amusement park, set aside from the rest of St. Louis.
The parade starts at 12:00am, but if you intend to drive, definitely shoot to do so before 10:00 — the Dogtown streets, if you can even park on them (you couldn’t this year) fill up quickly. Biking or taking public transportation is probably your best bet, for real (you know, sometimes they just say that). Plus, after you’re a few Guinnesses in, you definitely won’t want to be behind the wheel of a vehicle.
The parade lasts a little over 90 minutes and is followed by immediate bedlam and chaos on the streets as festivities escalate and the crowd continues to lubricate. If shitshows aren’t exactly for you, you’ll definitely want to be out of there by around 2:00pm; find a good friend in the neighborhood and grill some burgers or something and enjoy the scene from afar.
The thing that stinks about this parade is that it rarely falls on the weekend. Although don’t tell any Irish men or women, Andy’s verdict? If you can’t make it out to the parade because of work, don’t feel too torn up about it. There’s always the next holiday…

St. Patrick’s Day is always one of those weird days for me, for the percentage of Irish I have in me is based upon the quantity of Guinness I’ve consumed (for those scoring at home: at 7:30 am: 0%. Noon: 1%. 5:00 pm: 25%. I’ll leave it at that).
That said, St. Patrick’s Day in Dogtown was great. It wasn’t the Feast of San Gennaro in the Bronx, but you felt like it was something more than just a bunch of people coming out for the day drinking. Sure, many were out there drinking, but they were there to see their friends and family in the parade (how often do you see some 30 year old guy getting excited seeing a fire truck? «Hey, that’s Ladder no. 6, Joey’s on there!»)
Serious cons were the lack of bathroom facilities. And because you’re in somebody’s neighborhood, any temptations to «dog» it, well, that’s just not cool. But nothing quite builds camaraderie like the need to pee. Plus you guilt people into going fast.
I’d be happy coming back if invited. Though, I might wear a green diaper.

I really enjoy the Hibernian parade and Dogtown event every year. It’s a hokie, noncommercial parade and street party. This event is a shot in the arm for this areas uniquely neighborhood-​esque business district. The residents have parties, picnics, etc. the restaurants have tents, beer gardens, music, and food. The local church has Irish dancing performances and the weather tends to cooperate most years. A good time is had by all.
I tend to spend the first half of the day on or around Tamm (the parade route, restaurants, bars, and house parties). As the crowd gets younger, denser, and a wee bit drunk around the Clayton/​Tamm corridor, I generally hike it with my group to lower Dogtown, where the restaurants have outdoor seating, live music, ample potties, etc.
Since the Dogtown event falls on St. Patrick’s Day and rarely falls on the weekend, there is some level of crowd control, which I like. It’s still crowded, with lots of heavy drinking. SO, I do have to ask some of the folks with young kids WHY they hang around for hours after the parade is over. Once it becomes a big party, it is time to take the kiddos home. Seriously!

For those of you looking for an official parade with floats and pageantry, the Dogtown St. Patrick’s Day Parade is not it! But if you are looking for authentic, local Irish revelry, then this is for you!
Always held on March 17, no matter what day of the week it falls on or what kind of weather we’re experiencing, this parade consists mostly of flatbed pickup trucks, fire engines and groups of pedestrians. There are also some adorable little Irish dancer girls, Irish wolfhounds and bagpipe players spread out throughout the parade as well.
One thing you will notice right away is that everyone in the parade and those attending the parade are either related, neighbors or send their kids to the same school. Normally this kind of small town mentality freaks me out, but once a year it comes across relatively quaint.
If you are going to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Dogtown, be sure to get there early, find a good spot in front (so you can catch good beads), and make sure you have a DD to pick you up!