Last week the ShamROCK Chicago Council told IrishCentral they were petitioning to have the Windy City named as the United States’ headquarters for all St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Now Boston have protested their petition. However, you have to wonder have both these great American cities forgotten about New York City?
The Big Apple boasts of the largest St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the United States. Established in 1762, the parade now plays host to over one million visitors annually. How could they possibly beat that?
The ShamROCK Council in Chicago seem pretty confident. Last week, a member of the council told IrishCentral, “More than any other city in the United States, Chicago exemplifies Irish pride.”
Jeremy Hogan, a spokesman for the group, said, “While other cities might claim older traditions or greater Irish populations, we can safely say that nobody outside of Dublin celebrates St. Patrick’s Day like Chicago does.”
The Bostonians admit they didn’t find this news easy to swallow. Speaking to BostInno, Dr. Robert Mauro, the director for the Irish Institute at Boston College and the Irish Network Boston argued against the ShamROCK arguments saying, “Boston is, of course, the top destination in the U.S. for St. Patrick’s Day.”
He continues saying that due to Boston’s compact size (50 square miles) its Irish culture is apparent immediately.
“If someone wants to take in a bit of Irish culture and visit the Burns Library at Boston College for the Yeats collection, grab a packet of Tayto in Brighton, and take in session at Mr. Dooley’s, it is all easily and comfortably done,” he told BostINNO.
Similarly, New York City is bringing it, with the history of Irish immigrants who helped to build the great city; from Annie Moore, the first emigrant documented to cross the threshold at Ellis Island to Irish American figures such as NYPD boss Ray Kelly and philanthropist Chuck Feeney. Every corner of New York has an Irish story to tell.
Of course, perhaps Boston is at an advantage as it can boast of the oldest St. Patrick’s Day parade having been established in 1737. The first St. Patrick’s Day was held as a protest march for the low social status the Irish held in the city despite their numbers.
It is hard to see who could possibly be crowned with the honor of the official headquarters for St. Patrick’s Day among these three proud Irish American groups but what’s certain is that New York and Boston will give Chicago a fight for their money.
Read more: New York's Top 10 Irish historical sites – PHOTOS
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Mairin67 | Jan 25, 2013, 06:47 PM EST
All of the American parades quite simply, suck. They are nothing but politicians and plumbers unions with a few bagpipe bands and Irish dancers. I was recently in Derry for Halloween and they had an amazing parade...very professionally orchestrated and symbolic. While I 100% support the amazing Irish culture in Chicago (not all the fake stuff and Irish names that are well known), the music scene especially...no American city has the right to be headquarters of anything Irish...leave that to Ireland.
STEVENSTAR | Jan 25, 2013, 04:51 AM EST
'THE CHEEK OF THEM' UNITED STATES HEAD QUARTERS OF ALL ST PATRICKS DAY CELEBRATIONS...IM IRISH I LIVE IN IRELAND AND I WAS BORN HERE ... YE NEED TO FOCUS ON YE'RE OWN CULTURE AND CUSTOMS AND CELEBRATE THAT ...AND FORGET ABOUT STEALING OUR CULTURE ...AMERICANS ARE 'OBSESSED' WITH EUROPEANS AND IF THEY ARE NOT TRYING TO STEAL IRISH CULTURE THEY ARE TRYING TO STEAL THE ITALIAN, GERMAN OR FRENCH CULTURE ...WHAT A SAD LOT YE ARE !!!!....JUST BECAUSE YOUR GREAT GRANNYS CAT MOVED TO AMERICA 100 YEARS AGO THAT DOESN'T MAKE YOUR IRISH ..BE HAPPY TO BE AMERICAN FOR GODS SAKE !!!.....BECAUSE POEOPLE OVER HERE IN IRELAND , 'YES' REAL IRISH PEOPLE ..ARE ONLY LAUGHING AT YE !!!
Brenn69 | Jan 23, 2013, 03:55 PM EST
The City of New Orleans hosts the best St. Patrick's Day parade I've ever seen. It's grown as big as any major Mardi Gras parade, in a city that could school any other on how to combine a parade and a good party. Now, New Orleans may not be as famous of an Irish City as NY or Boston, but let me tell U, are the Irish proud and do they ever party full-kilt on Paddy's Day! Come to the uptown parade yourself and you'll see, they don't know how to parade & party in NYC. Not at all! Keep it green!
puffin | Jan 22, 2013, 12:45 PM EST
are ulster unionists allowed to participate?
Scrivner | Jan 21, 2013, 02:51 PM EST
Dompedro, glad that you see the inevitable outcome of the election--out of the 3,000 voters NYC got 2,480 votes, Boston got 943 votes and Chicago got 10,876 votes. . Thank you all for your interest.
Dompedro | Jan 20, 2013, 01:54 PM EST
Sooooo..... to whom do you petition? the Pope? the Bishop of Armagh? the Pres of the US? (he's Irish -- I read it here), the mayor of Chicago? ( he's not exactly Irish, but he knows lot of them and then, you also have the mayor of New York), one of the Daleys now that they have access to the White House (need an Irish - American king) --- one thing is for sure, if the votes are counted in Chicago, you already know the results
crny925 | Jan 20, 2013, 10:00 AM EST
Why does there have to be a 'HQ' for the parade at all? This is absolutely ridiculous! Being a New Yorker and having attended parades in all three cities, including Dublin; Chicago has to be kidding!!!!!
CitizenWhy | Jan 20, 2013, 09:21 AM EST
Boston's parade is quite parochial, confined to a close minded neighborhood. I don't know anything about Chicago. New York's parade traditionally (don't know about now) was inclusive, since it officially celebrated the patron saint of the archdiocese and included margins of various ethic backgrounds reflecting the diversity of NY's parishes. Of course the gay ban dents the diversity issue. Since gays are not banned in Ireland, only US parades allowing gays to march should be considered, such as the one in Queens, NY.