St. Patrick's Day: America is getting green and giddy for its major parades

1 of 21 |

The Chicago River is dyed green ahead of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

2 of 21 |

A woman cheers during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday, March 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

3 of 21 |

A bagpiper marches along Fifth Avenue during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday, March 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

4 of 21 |

The Chicago River is dyed green ahead of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

5 of 21 |

A spectator dressed in his finest St. Patrick’s day outfit uses his cell phone to record part of the 200th anniversary celebration of Savannah’'s first St. Patrick’s Day parade, Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Savannah, Ga. Georgia’s oldest city first parade started with a modest procession on March 17, 1824. (Stephen B. Morton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

6 of 21 |

Participants gather as they wait to march during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday, March 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

7 of 21 |

A kayaker floats on the Chicago River, dyed green ahead of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

8 of 21 |

An honor guard leads a group of dignitaries past the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist during the beginning of the 200th anniversary of Savannah’'s St. Patrick’s Day parade, Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Savannah, Ga. The parade lineup featured at least 230 pipe-and-drum bands, dignitaries, marching military units and shamrock-decorated floats. (Stephen B. Morton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

9 of 21 |

Bagpipers march along Fifth Avenue during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday, March 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

10 of 21 |

The grand marshal of the 2024 Manhattan’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Irish-born Heineken USA CEO Maggie Timoney, the first female CEO of a major U.S. beer company, marches in the parade in New York, on Saturday, March 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)

11 of 21 |

People watch the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday, March 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

12 of 21 |

A Chicago Fire Department boat floats on the Chicago River, dyed green ahead of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

13 of 21 |

Cheerleaders march along Fifth Avenue during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday, March 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

14 of 21 |

Bagpipers, right, and State Police, center, march along Fifth Avenue during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday, March 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

15 of 21 |

Bagpipers march along Fifth Avenue during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday, March 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

16 of 21 |

Members of the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local 130 dye the Chicago River green ahead of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

17 of 21 |

Six-year-old Eloise Tallon of Savannah waves to friends during the St. Patrick’s Day parade, Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Savannah, Ga. This is the 200th parade since the first in 1824. (Stephen B. Morton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

18 of 21 |

A nun holds a baby as participants march along Fifth Avenue during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday, March 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

19 of 21 |

A child eats a donut during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday, March 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

20 of 21 |

State Police march along Fifth Avenue during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday, March 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

21 of 21 |

A member of the Garda Síochána, the national the national police and security service of Ireland, is kissed by a bystander during the 200th anniversary of Savannah’'s St. Patrick’s Day parade, Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Savannah, Ga. This is the 200th parade since the first in Georgia’s oldest city that started in 1824. (Stephen B. Morton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — People across the United States celebrated Irish heritage at several major St. Patrick’s Day parades Saturday, marking the holiday a day early at events that included a big anniversary in Savannah, Georgia, and honored a pioneering female business leader as grand marshal in New York.

The holiday commemorates Ireland’s patron saint and was popularized largely by Irish Catholic immigrants. While St. Patrick’s Day falls on March 17, some parades were moved up from Sunday, a day of worship for the Christian faithful.

Manhattan’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which dates to 1762 — 14 years before the U.S. Declaration of Independence — is one of the world’s largest Irish heritage festivities.

Megan Stransky of Houston and two relatives planned a Broadway weekend to coincide with the parade, seeing it as a prime opportunity to remember their family’s Irish roots and the traditions that helped shape their upbringing.

Related coverage

FILE - Stacey Peterson and Kevin McGuire take a selfie in front of the green Chicago River to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, Saturday, March 17, 2018. The Chicago River has been dyed a bright shade of green, kicking off the city's St. Patrick's Day festivities. The day honoring the patron saint of Ireland is a global celebration of Irish heritage. And nowhere is that more so than in the United States, where parades take place in cities around the country and all kinds of foods and drinks are given an emerald hue. (James Foster/Chicago Sun-Times via AP, File)

From 4-leaf clovers to some unexpected history, all you need to know about St. Patrick’s Day

An array of hats decorated for St. Patrick's Day is displayed at a park in New Orleans during an Irish-themed fundraiser for a local school on Thursday, March 14, 2024. Although New Orleans is better known for French, Spanish, African American and Caribbean influences, the Irish have played a major role in the city's history, and the city celebrates the legacy with parades and parties centered around the March 17 St. Patrick's Day holiday. (AP Photo/Kevin McGill)

When it’s St. Patrick’s Day in New Orleans, get ready to catch a cabbage

The event didn’t disappoint.

“There is no comparison to any other parade or city that I’ve been to,” Stransky marveled as she took in the bagpipers, bands, police and military contingents and more.

The grand marshal, Irish-born Heineken USA CEO Maggie Timoney, is the first female CEO of a major U.S. beer company. At a pre-parade reception at New York’s mayoral residence, Irish Minister for Justice Helen McEntee hailed the recognition for Timoney and noted some other causes for celebrating Irish American links this year, including Irish actor Cillian Murphy’s best actor Oscar win last weekend.

Participants gather to march during the St. Patrick's Day Parade on Saturday, March 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki) — Participants during the St. Patrick's Day Parade on March 16 in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

New York City has multiple parades on various dates around its five boroughs — including, on Sunday, the first St. Patrick’s Day parade allowing LGBTQ+ groups to march on Staten Island.

Mayor Eric Adams last month announced the plan for the new, privately organized celebration, arranged after a local organization asked for years to join the borough’s decades-old parade. That longstanding event, which does not allow groups to march under LGBTQ+ banners, happened earlier this month.

The Manhattan parade began allowing LGBTQ+ groups and symbols in 2015, after decades of protests, legal challenges and boycotts by some politicians.

Ahead of Chicago’s parade, thousands of people — many decked out in green with beers in hand — gathered along the Chicago River to watch the local plumbers union boats turn the water green. Organizers say the tradition, started by the union, uses an environmentally friendly powder once used to check pipes for leaks.

Katie and Ryan Fox, of suburban Mount Pleasant, landed a spot on a tour boat and saw one of the union boats spraying the dye in front of them.

Ryan Fox, 37, said seeing the river dyed by boat was one of his “bucket list” items.

“If there’s a city that does it better than Chicago, I’d like to see it,” he said.

Large, green-garbed crowds also lined the streets of Savannah for the bicentennial of a parade that began with a few dozen Irish immigrants in 1824. It’s now one of the South’s major annual events, much so that the Savannah area had nearly 18,000 hotel rooms booked for the weekend.

Other communities lent their own flavor to the St. Patrick’s Day revelry.

In Oklahoma City, hundreds lined the streets of Stockyard City — the country’s largest stockyard operation — for a parade including longhorn cattle, clowns and a man dressed as St. Patrick. The grand marshal was Anita Swift, granddaughter of American film legend John Wayne.

In San Francisco, revelers wearing dark green T-shirts and lime green feather boas watched bands, floats and buses in the city’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade. The event called for unity and aimed to bring together different cultural groups with dance, music and food.

___

This story has been corrected to show that Manhattan’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade began allowing LGBTQ+ groups to march under their own banners in 2015, not 2014, and that the new Staten Island parade allowing such contingents is set to happen Sunday, rather than having happened in February. The story has been edited to clarify that Timoney is USA CEO for Heineken.

With green and glee, major US parades mark St. Patrick’s Day — a little early

___