The St. Patrick’s Day parade takes place on Saint Catherine Street in downtown Montréal, Quebec Canada. During the three-hour-long parade, hundreds of floats, marching bands, performers and revellers march to celebrate the Irish community. It usually commences from the corner of du Fort St. at noon and heads east as far as Metcalfe street.
It’s a Free Activity to be enjoyed by Kids, Families of Canadian Community and all around the world. Saint Patrick’s feast day, as a kind of national day, was already being celebrated by the Irish in Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries. On Saint Patrick’s Day, it is customary to wear shamrocks, green clothing or green accessories.
Since 1824, this parade has been celebrated yearly, making it the oldest and largest after NYC’s parade. Saint Patrick is said to have used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish.
Montreal hosts one of the longest-running and largest Saint Patrick’s Day parades in North America. The yearly celebration has been organised by the United Irish Societies of Montreal since 1929.
The flag of Montréal proves the prominence of the Irish, depicting a green shamrock in one of the flag’s quadrants. In Quebec City, there was a parade from 1837 to 1926. The Quebec City St-Patrick Parade returned in 2010 after more than 84 years.
In 1999, when the Maple Leafs played on St Patrick’s Day, they wore green St Patrick’s retro uniforms. Visit anyone of the several authentic Irish pubs located on parade route for famous beer. National Geographic voted Montréal’s as one of the top 10 St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the world!
