Early start on St Patrick’s Day for Westport’s Community Parade

With Hastings Insurance McHale Park in Castlebar as the venue on Sunday, March 17, for the National Football League clash between Mayo and Derry, St Patrick's Day parades across the county will likely kick off earlier in the day.

The Westport Parade Committee have decided to go with a 12 noon start. The committee has been busy putting together a programme of events to suit all ages and tastes across St Patrick's Weekend. This year's parade theme is 'Finding your Voice', allowing community groups to give voice to their endeavours in the locality. All voluntary groups are encouraged to take part and to showcase their organisation’s achievements. This is your opportunity to give a voice to your work, together with adding colour in celebrating Westport’s' vibrant community spirit.

Lennie Grimes will be Grand Marshal at this year's St Patrick's Day Parade in Westport.

With community at the heart of the parade, it is fitting that one of Westport’s great community leaders has been chosen as the Grand Marshal for this year’s parade. The affable Lennie Grimes was the unanimous choice of the organisers. Lennie’s work with local community organisations, his time treading the boards with St Patrick’s Drama Group and the Westport Community Panto is much admired. Music lovers have always acknowledged his long and distinguished musical career from his time with many local showbands, not forgetting his talent of songwriting including ‘Lovely Westport’ and ‘My Achill Island Home’.

Distillery Road start

The Parade will commence at 12 noon on Distillery Road and all participants are asked to be in the Sacred Heart School Carpark from 11.30pm. As always, our local Comhaltas will provide some live music outside the Town Hall just before the Parade commences, and with the Mayo Fleadh just around the corner in May, we're sure to get a taste of the wonderful talented musicians that bring Westport Comhaltas to the fore.

Immediately following the parade, there will be more outdoor music at the Town Hall with Ciaran O'Malley and Lisa Loughnane, who will return after delivering an excellent set of popular music at St Patrick's Day Parade in 2023.

Speaking to The Mayo News, parade committee chairman Dermott Langan praised the efforts and support from Community Groups who have come forward to take part in the parade. He also thanked Westport Men's Shed who will once again act as Parade Stewards on the day alongside An Garda Síochána. He also was high in praise for the efforts of the small committee that has organised this year’s event.

“There’s only five of us: Elsie Higgins, Rhona Chambers, Maria Dolan, Rosaleen Heraty and myself – so we do our best with small resources trying to keep the tradition of honouring St Patrick in the shadow of his pilgrimage mountain,” added Dermott.

Festivities will kick off on Saturday, March 16, with Westport’s Laoise Kelly and Tiarnán Ó Duinnchinn - Harp and Pipes - Live in Concert at Westport Town Hall at 8pm. Laoise and Tiarnan are a rare duet of Irish Harp and Uilleann Pipes, two very identifiable instruments of Ireland. Live, they carry Traditional music out of the norm into a contemplative space where the listener is freed from rigid contours and can let go with imagination and empathy.

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For bookings at Westport Town Hall see www.westporttheatre.com or call 098 28459. For all queries on St Patrick's Day Parade in Westport please email gatheringforpatrick@gmail.com.