Mar 13, 2020 2 min read

The announcement canceling Dublin, Ireland’s, St. Patrick’s Day parade on the actual holiday, March 17, was made this past Monday.

Paradegoers in Pittsburgh may have thought they had the green light until the word came down Wednesday: No parade Saturday.

Bill Lee is president of the Mon Valley Ancient Order of Hibernians, who typically don green blazers and green, orange and white hand-knit scarves to sing Irish tunes and American patriotic music as the group makes its way down Grant Street, but not this year.

There is no vaccine available to protect people from what’s known as COVID-19, which can spread before people show symptoms.

Shoulder-to-shoulder throngs fill a parade route, and because the new corona respiratory virus proliferates through close contact, it could easily become a breeding ground for mass contagion that would overwhelm hospitals.

Lee is also mayor of Speers Borough, so he said he understands the need to put the health, welfare and safety of the public first.

“We have been marching as a group for 40 years,” Lee said. “We are very proud of our Irish Catholic heritage, but we understand the severity of the coronavirus.

“It’s going to put a stress on the entire country, and they’re taking steps to reduce the stress as much as they can.”

Lee is taking a wait-and-see attitude toward the group’s next parade, and he’s exploring the possibility of being a Veterans Day unit.

Lee’s second cousin is Ed Ritzer of Scenery Hill, a U.S. Army veteran and past president of the Mon Valley Hibernians, about 20 of which march with “assorted family members.

“We’re all disappointed,” Ritzer said. “But it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

He’s so dedicated he tried to head to Pittsburgh in the Blizzard of 1993, which coincided with the parade, but he was able to drive only a few miles on Route 40 before he had to turn back.

Lee said, also keeping public safety in mind, that Pittsburgh should’ve canceled the parade on that snowy day 27 years ago, but the flakes starting to fall overnight shortened the decision-making window.

Ritzer expects to soon travel south to golf the greens of Florida.

“I’ll be wearing green,” he said.