Ottawa St. Patrick's Day parade cancelled due to lack of volunteers, money
CTV
Ottawa's St. Patrick's Day parade, a decades-long tradition, has been cancelled due to a lack of volunteers and funding.
Ottawa's St. Patrick's Day parade, a decades-long tradition, has been cancelled due to a lack of volunteers and funding.
Sean Kealey, president of the Ottawa Irish Society, said the 38th edition of the parade will not go ahead this year.
"Expenses for the parade are way beyond previous years," Kealey said in an email. "For instance, the barricades that we need to block traffic went up from around $3,500 to $9,000."
"We needed a lot more sponsorships but it's tough for businesses these days."
This year's parade had been scheduled for Saturday, March 11. It would have started at city hall and head down Laurier Avenue and Bank Street to Lansdowne Park.
The parade was supposed to culminate in the annual St. Patrick's Day party at the Aberdeen Pavilion, co-hosted by the Irish Society and Big Rig Brewery. That party is also cancelled.
The parade hasn't happened since 2019 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was one of the first major events cancelled in March 2020 when the pandemic began, and has not returned since.
