With COVID-19 fading, St. Patrick’s Day celebrations swing into high gear
Courtesy of Ray Feathers Photography
Pipe bands are an important part of the Pittsburgh St. Patrick’s Day parade, which is set to happen Saturday.
Courtesy of Ray Feathers Photography
Rich O’Malley, a member of the committee for the Pittsburgh St. Patrick’s Day parade, dressed as St. Patrick in 2019.
Wim Lanser
On the cover: “The Rhythm of the Dance” will be performed at 7 p.m. on March 17 at The Palace Theatre in Greensburg. Tickets are available at thepalacetheatre.org.
Courtesy of the Carnegie Science Center
Actor Manchan Magan will be at the Carnegie Science Center Saturday for St. Patrick’s Day festivities.
Courtesy of Haunted Hills Estate Scream Park
Haunted Hills Estate Scream Park in Uniontown is holding a St. Patrick’s Day haunted house this Friday and Saturday. For more information, visit www.hauntedhillsestate.com.
Courtesy of Ray Feathers Photography
An honor guard in the 2019 Pittsburgh St. Patrick’s Day parade.
The St. Patrick’s Day parade that will be winding through the streets of downtown Pittsburgh on Saturday will contain all the elements that revelers have come to know and love – step dancers, baton-twirlers, pipe bands, people dressed like leprechauns and green as far as the eye can see.
This year, however, the St. Patrick’s Day parade will likely have merriment of an additional magnitude because it’s the first one in three years that is actually happening within the vicinity of St. Patrick’s Day.
The parade in 2020 was called off as COVID-19 was initially spreading around the world and the first lockdowns were put in place. Vaccines were starting to go into arms around St. Patrick’s Day last year, but organizers pushed the parade to September, making it a “halfway to St. Patrick’s Day” parade. With coronavirus numbers waning and normalcy seemingly within reach, the St. Patrick’s Day parade this year will take place on its traditional date, which has been the Saturday before the holiday.
And it will happen regardless of the weather – the marching bands braved the streets even when a fearsome blizzard descended on the region in 1993 – and is set to start at 10 a.m. Parade-goers might want to pull their green galoshes and winter jackets out of the closet, since snow showers are forecast, with high temperatures not expected to get out of the 30s on Saturday. The parade will start at the Greyhound bus station at the intersection of Liberty Avenue and 11th Street, and proceed to Grant Street and then the Boulevard of the Allies. A receiving stand at Stanwix Street will mark the parade’s end.
Peter Shovlin, a 90-year-old Pittsburgh resident born in Liskerraghan, Ireland, is the grand marshal of this year’s parade. Shovlin is a charter member of the Irish Centre of Pittsburgh, and has long been dedicated to preserving Irish music and culture. He explained, “When you support the Pittsburgh St. Patrick’s Day parade, you’re really supporting St. Patrick. If he were alive today, and was given a cellphone and a computer, can you imagine what he would do when you see all that he accomplished with just a little shamrock?”
The parade is the highlight of the celebrations of the patron saint of Ireland in this region. There will, though, be plenty of other events happening. Of course, watering holes in the region will be pouring out green beer to patrons bedecked in shamrock bead necklaces, but other festivities are planned that don’t necessarily involve raising a glass or two or three.
The Carnegie Science Center will be celebrating Irish history, tradition and language on Saturday. Irish writer and actor Manchan Magan will be starring in the 70-minute production “Aran & Im” at noon and 3 p.m. It celebrates Ireland, including its food, with freshly baked sourdough bread that visitors can spread with butter they churn themselves from Irish cream. Registration is not required to attend “Aran & Im,” but seats and bread are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Magan also appears in the documentary “Ireland,” which is showing in the Carnegie Science Center’s Rangos Giant Cinema until the end of July. Narrated by Liam Neeson, it looks at the natural wonders and cultural heritage of the Emerald Isle and is in 3D.
For those who like their St. Patrick’s Day revelry to have a somewhat darker cast, the Haunted Hills Estate Scream Park in Uniontown is offering two holiday-themed attractions tonight and Saturday. The first is the interactive murder mystery “Goldfellas,” where visitors will help the O’Weary Gang uncover a murderer, and the other, “Nathair: The Summoning,” promises “a horrifying ritual.” For additional information, go online to www.hauntedhillsestate.com.
Next Thursday, on St. Patrick’s Day itself, “The Rhythm of the Dance” will be at the Palace Theatre in Greensburg. It celebrates the dance, music, songs and culture of Ireland from pre-Celtic times to the present. “The Rhythm of the Dance” has been ranked one of the three top Irish step dance shows in the world.
Showtime is 7 p.m. and information is available at thepalacetheatre.org.