PEORIA, Ill. – Almost 150 floats and thousands of people — mostly wearing green — took to downtown Peoria Thursday for the annual Saint Patrick’s Day Parade, put on by the Saint Patrick Society of Peoria.
K.C. Murphy has organized the parade the last five years or so, and says it takes a certain something to pull off a role like his.
“Organizational skills, I suppose, a little bit of insanity, just ready to have some fun and flow with things,” said Murphy.
Murphy says after not having the parade the last two years due to COVID-19, he’s as glad as everyone else it’s back. And he says the turnout shows that.
Becky McGaherty and the McGaherty Clan took part in this year’s parade, because she says it was on her bucket list.
“We’ve come to the St. Patty’s Day Parade every so often, and I just thought ‘Wow, we’re McGahertys, so why not be a part of this?'” said McGaherty.
Kent Higgins of the Saint Patrick Society of Peoria had the title of Grand Marshal of the parade for the two years it didn’t happen, and also says he’s glad it’s back. Higgins has some Irish trivia you might not have known.
“Blue is actually a color of Ireland,” said Higgins. “You probably noticed on the bagpipers (in the parade) that they were all wearing blue kilts. The color is actually called Saint Patrick Blue. In Ireland, more people wear blue than green.”
In other words, you might look out of place if you wear a lot of green in Ireland. But, Higgins says much like Peoria, Ireland is very welcoming, so you will still feel good there.”
Higgins says he hopes people take more time to learn about Irish history, and one of the ways you can do that is through the annual Irish Fest later this summer.
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