Looking ahead to Topeka's St. Patrick's Day Parade

TOPEKA (KSNT) - A 44-year tradition returns to Topeka Saturday. If you are willing to brave the cold, we hope you'll join us downtown for the 2023 St. Patrick's Day Parade sponsored by KSNT.

There will be events scattered throughout the downtown area. Festivities will kick off bright and early at 7 a.m. with Topeka's Blarney Breakfast at the Blind Tiger. Topeka's Original Irish Fest starts at 10 a.m. at Evergy Plaza and adult attendees can take part in beer and whiskey tasting. For an Irish breakfast, your family can head over to the Celtic Fox starting at 9 a.m. There, you can also check out the street fair hosted by the restaurant.

The main attraction is Topeka's St. Patrick's Day parade. The parade will include around 200 floats, and as many as 30,000 people are expected to turn out. The parade is community-driven, as there are no preregistered floats, so it is a little different every year.

“The fun part about this parade, like I said, we do have a lot of different floats so no matter what you saw last year it’s going to be different this year." said Dan Sheehy, the president of the Irish Club. "The parade route is pretty set. It doesn’t really change much, but obviously, the floats are a big attraction for the parade and you get to see all new different floats every year.”

Parade participants will begin lining up at 10 a.m. and the parade will start at noon. It usually lasts about 90 minutes. The parade route will start at the corner of 4th Street and Kansas Avenue, make its way to the corner of 10th Street and Kansas Avenue, then to 10th and Jackson, and will end at 4th and Jackson.