San Antonio St. Patrick’s Day Parade cancelled after 44 years - VIDEO

As a San Antonian and immediate Past President of the Harp and shamrock Society, we are doing additional things. It is just the street parade that has been cancelled for this year. We still have our Alamo Ceremonies at High noon which began it all, a river parade and an all evening Irish festival from 5-11 on March 17. For the gentleman who has problems seeing us raise the $12,000, the issue is that we have always funded the parade from our resources but have never received any help from the city as many other groups such as the MLK March. We fall under an interpretation of a San Antonio ordinance that waves certain fees for parades with cultural significance and the Irish have been here since Spanish colonial times in the 18th century. We do have a long and noble history here but the city doesn't acknowledge it. Murph46 it isn't all that easy to do what you suggest. If it had been and this is Texas we would have done it. Our parade has never been held on the DAY itself except when it fell on a Saturday. We don't have the large numbers of Irish groups here like NY and Boston do. We are growing but it is slow. Comhaltas is here as is the GAA, we have two schools of dancing and forr ceili groups. Who knows we may well be back?

and what is stopping anyone from going and doing what they did in 1968? something small and dignified. most St. Paddy's parades are about parting and getting drunk. if you dont think that Hoboken parade was ground zero for drunks, then you've never been there at 3pm. if you dont think the parade in NYC used to be completely out of hand, listen to me, I was there at the steps of the museum on fifth avenue and 82nd street. What I saw was a disgrace and Ed Koch stopped it by cracking down on all drinking. Why he didnt do it to the Puerto Ricans, you can ask him before he croaks.

I question the authenticity of an organization who can't raise $12,000.I have done it for much smaller organizations by holding reverse raffles etc.The heart of this is that it is easier to blame it on someone else than to go to work in a constructive manner to solve the problem.Period!

What would make for an intersting article is for someone to look at the Irish parades around the country being canceled. Hoboken and San Antonio are two...any others? Do these cities have other ETHNIC parades paid for by the government? It would give some perspective. Many Irish crackpots, on this site, felt Hoboken "deserved to be canceled becuase of IRISH drunkeness" none of which was proved to be true.....Maybe a pattern is developing. Urban demographics being what they are, in certain large cities, and as funds are tight certain choices are made that may not include the Irish. WHAT TO DO? THE BEST THING WE CAN DO IS TO LET AUTHORITIES KNOW THAT IF NO ETHNIC PARADES CAN BE AFFORDED, WE'LL TRY AND TOLERATE THAT, BUT WE WONT TOLERATE IF OUR PARADE IS TARGETED LIKE IN HOBOKEN. WE MAKE OURSELVES EASY TARGETS BECAUSE SO MANY IRISH HATE THEIR OWN AND BUY IN TO STEREOTYPES. TRULY SAD.

Just another example of bureaucracy squashing us all like bugs. Maybe they should move the parade out of the city proper to a suburb, where it won't cost as much and the smaller town would be happy to have them.

typical government....don't give them what they want, your money, and they take away things that that you enjoy or need from government

For those of you who have never been to San Anyonio, take a look at this picture. That narrow river runs through the city center, and small boats like the one in the picture carry passengers. There are lots of interesting shops selling Mexican items and Tex-Mex cafes and restaurants. San Antonio is one of America's very colorful cities.