Snapshot
BY LAUREN CLEM • PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREW BROOKS / DISCOVER NEWPORT
Newport St . Patrick ’ s Day Parade
NEWPORT TODAY MIGHT LOOK DIFFERENT from the ocean town that drew Irish immigrant workers in the early 1800s , but the heritage marches on in the St . Patrick ’ s Day Parade . Every year since 1956 , rain or shine , the parade has set out from City Hall and wound its way to St . Augustin Church in the Fifth Ward . Chairman Dennis Sullivan even remembers one year when participants marched through a blizzard . “ At the heyday we had up to nine bagpipe bands ,” he recalls . Only during the pandemic was it temporarily suspended ( and even then bagpipers paid a visit to the local pubs ). This year , Sullivan looks forward to the parade reclaiming its former glory , complete with the Ancient Order of Hibernians , the Rhode Island Highlanders Pipe Band and other local groups . Sullivan , who grew up in the Fifth Ward , recommends stepping into one of the pubs along the parade route , particularly one with a parade poster indicating its support . “ I ’ ve heard plenty of marriage stories where people say I met my wife here on St . Patrick ’ s Day ,” he says . This year ’ s parade steps off on Saturday , March 15 , at 11 a . m . newportirish . com
128 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY I MARCH 2025