Celbridge aims to make Dubs green with envy
PARTY CAPITAL: Celbridge will stage a St Patrick?s parade
Friday March 14 2008
Organisers of the Celbridge parade are confident that their extravaganza will leave Dublin's event in the dust and they are even planning on stealing some of the city parade's participants.
Dave Byrne, organiser of the Celbridge event, said that despite this being only the second St Patrick's Day parade held in the town, he was expecting a massive turnout. And he is hopeful that the packed parade will entice locals, used to commuting to Dublin to work, to forego the capital in favour of their local patch.
Last year thousands of locals gathered to watch the proceedings headed by a leprechaun with two giant Irish wolfhounds.
And according to Dave, this year, the parade has a lot more in store.
"It's going to be spectacular. We've 45 floats at the moment and marching bands from all over. Two of the bands are even coming from the Dublin parade," he said.
Dave, who is originally from Dublin, has lived in the town for the past 24 years. But the lack of events in the area meant that for the past 12 years he has taken his own children into Dublin to enjoy the parade.
"There are 24,000 people living in Celbridge, but for years there was nothing here for them. A lot of them were from Dublin originally and moved out, now they need to make this their community. This will be the biggest thing happening in Celbridge this year," he added.
Dave added that local pubs and businesses were all getting in on the event.
"A lot of people will still go into the Dublin event but we're starting our parade at 3.30pm so they can come back home, enjoy it and enjoy the entertainment put on for the rest of the night. There will be lots happening in the town all night," said Dave.
Two bands will also make the journey from the Dublin parade to Celbridge to take part in the event.
"The more people get into it the better it will be. We want to make a real community here and this is a good start," added Dave.
