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HomeNewsArchivesST. CROIX CELEBRATES 31ST ANNUAL ST. PATRICK'S DAY

ST. CROIX CELEBRATES 31ST ANNUAL ST. PATRICK'S DAY

St. Croix Celebrates 31st Annual St. Patrick's Day
St. Croix will be greener than ever on Saturday, March 18, when the island celebrates the 31st annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in the streets of downtown Christiansted. The parade will feature scratch and steel-pan music, a colorful entourage of floats and lively Irish descendants and friends. This year's theme is "One Love."
The assembly of floats and revelers will begin at 9 a.m. at the Christiansted Wharf and Hospital Street area. The procession will begin promptly at 11 a.m. and continue in route up Company Street and back down King Street to the wharf area.
History of Crucian St. Patrick's Day Parade
The St. Patrick's Day Parade on St. Croix began in 1969 when a group of local businessmen convened in Harry's Office Bar on Queen Cross Street in Christiansted for a "cool one." The conversation turned to holidays and why St. Patrick's Day wasn't celebrated in the Virgin Islands when so many other holidays were. In their opinion, something had to be done about the
omission – and immediately! Within minutes, the first St. Patrick's Day Parade was formed. Without further ado, a stakebed truck was commandeered, a piano put atop and the newly organized committee and fellow supporters were aboard singing Irish songs and saluting shoppers and shop-keepers who came out to see what all the noise was about. Those who were already wearing green got into the spirit at once, while those who needed something green ran into the shops to find it, running back outside to wave at the paraders. Some even joined the procession. And so, the first St. Patrick's Day Parade was born on St. Croix. Thirty years later, it is still going strong and is an important day for the community, beneficiaries and tourists.
For more information about the 31st anniversary St. Patrick's Day Parade, call (340) 773-1139 or (340) 773-5455. For more information about St. Croix, and the rest of the U.S. Virgin Islands, call (800) 372-USVI.

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