By Molly Flynn

The streets lined with thousands of people, fire trucks honking, everyone celebrating the one and only St. Patrick. The Belmar St. Patrick’s Day is a fun parade celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. This year was their 50th Anniversary. Also this year, my dance school (The D’arcy School of Irish Dance) opened the parade and marched in it. Now let me tell you about the history of this parade. 

It all started in 1974 when the Jerry Lynch Club joined together to walk down Belmar’s Main Street in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. Jerry Lynch was the owner of a Belmar hotel and bar who was active in the community. St. Patrick is the primary patron saint of Ireland. As the legend goes, he saved Ireland from snakes in 432. They called the parade “A showcase for the Irish Riviera”. The area is known as the Irish Riviera because of its large Irish population. The parade became official, and more and more people started to come to the parade. According to newjersey.news12.com, this year there were about 50,000 people that came to celebrate. 

This year, there were 180 groups marching in the parade. For example, the D’arcy School of Irish Dance, bagpipers, and many schools in the area.

I was marching for the D’arcy School of Irish Dance. We performed at the beginning to open the parade. When I looked around, there were thousands upon thousands of people watching. It was so overwhelming, but the people watching were clapping, dancing along, and cheering like wild people.

This is what my Irish dance friend, Shae, had to say:

Q: What is your favorite thing about the parade?

A: My favorite thing about the parade is dancing because it’s fun and you get to make friends

Q: Why do you think more people should come to the parade?

A:  I think more people should come to the parade because the bigger the crowd the bigger the show and you will have so much fun with all the Irish pride.

As you can tell, the Belmar St. Patrick’s Day Parade is an amazing event filled with Irish fun. I love it, and you should try to go next year.