Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade Festivities

The Greenest, Grandest Parade

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The City of Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade is 1.5 miles of festive fun and has been delighting families in the region since 1981.

The annual “Greenest, Grandest Parade” first began when Dublin’s first female mayor, Catherine Headlee, recruited local community organizations to gather together and plan a small parade.

After the construction of the Metro Center a few years later, the parade started to become what it is today. The route changed as Metro Center became a familiar spot for locals and provided an optimal location for staging and kicking off the parade route. The lineup continued to grow.

2024 St. Patrick’s Day Parade

Saturday, March 9

Starting at Metro Center and continuing through Historic Dublin.

Includes marching bands, equestrian teams, floats, novelty/antique vehicles and more!

Traditions galore

As one of the only regional St. Patrick’s Day parades, Dublin draws in participants and spectators from around Columbus with its entertainment lineup.

“We do have some (other) participants that come in. Franklin County Engineers, they’ll participate, especially if they have some really good projects going on because this is a regional parade, so it is a little more expansive outside of Dublin,” parade manager Trish Lackey says. “Majority is, of course, the City of Dublin, because this is the place to be on St. Patrick’s Day.”

One lasting tradition is the honoring of the Grand Leprechauns. The first Grand Leprechaun was chosen in 1984 as a way to appreciate hard-working, giving individuals or couples in the community.

Grand Leprechauns serve as the ceremonial leaders of the parade, and they attend the post-parade Grand Leprechaun luncheon with past honorees. They are honored throughout the year, walking in the Irish Festival opening parade in August and organizing the Wreaths Across America celebration in December.

Every year, past Grand Leprechauns gather with the mayor and city manager to review nominations and select the next honorees. Three Grand Leprechauns from the ’90s, David Wolfe (’95), Jim Link (’97) and Don Plunno (’98), were in attendance this year, alongside many other past honorees, to choose Asch and Kate Mikhail, owners of the Sunny Street Café in the Perimeter Center shopping plaza, as this year’s Grand Leprechauns.

Each element of the parade is purposeful, as the City has curated the perfect length to meet its standard of strong entertainment. The parade includes 110 units of live music, dancing, decorative floats and educational services interspersed over 90 minutes to captivate the audience.

Helping hands

There are more than 90 volunteers who help make the parade what it is with the majority handling the balloons. They are also responsible for pre-parade staging, setting up and running the information booths, serving as parade marshals and assisting with communications and traffic control.

These volunteers come from the city’s Outreach and Engagement division and many of them are returning volunteers who have experience retaining the balloons, coordinating the parade and enjoying the fun, which keeps them coming back each year.

“I work closely with (the Outreach and Engagement team) because they know their volunteers so well that we can get a really good match of what we need and what the folks that come in (can do). So they have a really great experience while they’re working at the parade,” Lackey says.

The lineup of the parade changes every year, featuring a good variety of new participants as well as returning groups. Lackey says the different homeowner’s associations and commercial units involved tend to change as Dublin continues to grow and develop, which is fun to see. She says it is equally rewarding to watch as groups return and build on their entertainment to wow crowds each year.

Of course, the parade balloons are of the utmost importance to the St. Patrick’s Day tradition. You will know the parade has begun when you see the parade’s signature leading balloon, the City of Dublin Top Hat, floating down Frantz Road. The festivities unfold until the Irish-themed balloon bookends the parade.

In recent years, limited access to helium in the United States has required the City of Dublin to get creative in its balloon department. The leading and final balloons are filled with helium, but others throughout the parade are what the City calls “cold-air balloons.” The designs of these cold-air balloons change every year, and some are even worn by volunteers.

Jane Dimel is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback is welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.