When I made it to St. Louis in March 2015, I figured I would see the city for a few days of relaxed fun with my American friend Vera, who flew in from Ohio to hang out with her Aussie pal!
How wrong we were.
Unbeknownst to us, St. Louis and St. Patrick’s Day go hand in hand so much that the city truly had the Irish spirit all day…and long into the night!
Let’s just say it was a good thing I was there celebrating stop 3 of my birthday month!
St Louis & Me
St Patrick’s Day & Vera
Irish Americans: A Much Bigger Population Than We Thought
Going back to the mid 1800s, the Irish potato famine was in full swing. As a lover of potato myself, I completely understand why leaving home would be the only option to have…I eat it a lot!
Millions of Irish citizens headed elsewhere to escape the lack of food, with a large number immigrating to the United States and this would continue for the remainder of the 19th Century.
Thus explains why St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated so much in the States; especially in cities like Boston, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Chicago, Kansas City and even Savannah. But St. Louis certainly gives many of these a run for their money!
St Louis On St Patrick’s Day
The St. Louis St. Patrick’s Day Parade
The St. Louis St Patrick’s Day parade begins at noon on the Saturday before the 17th of March; so in our case it was the 14th.
It starts at 20th and Market and continues down to Broadway and Market, near Busch Stadium.
It consists of over a hundred different participants; with marching bands, floats, balloon characters, marchers, cars, military, civil war re-enactors…the list goes on and so does the parade…it lasts about an hour for the approx. 250,000 spectators.
The crowds arrive early, which we could see building from above when we made our way up the Gateway Arch. All we could see was a sea of green below. There were stalls set up with food and drinks; but so many people were tailgating all along Market Street that bringing your own food seemed to be the way to go.
St. Louis Gearing Up For St Patrick’s Day
St Patrick’s Day Band
St Patrick’s Day Police
St Patrick’s Day Re-Enacters
St Patrick’s Day Parade
St Patrick’s Day Firefighters
St Patrick Day Army
St Patrick’s Day USO
St Patrick’s Day With The Birds
St Patrick’s Day Bumblebee
St Patrick’s Day Car Show
Celebrating in St.Louis, having just spent 2 weeks in Dublin only a week before was a really fun experience and made being in St.Louis that much more exciting.
Seeing a city smack bang in the Midwest like this, kept things interesting and allowed us to see the party vibe of the city – and the bar scene at Busch Stadium where the festivities continued late into the night.
I can’t recommend seeing the city in this way any more.
It was so much fun!
Read about another attraction in St. Louis, The Gateway Arch and what it’s like to go up to the top!
