Ulster Casts Pall : Irish Eyes Smile and Cry on Their Day

The Shanahans, O’Malleys and Mallees, O’Connells, Patricks and O’Briens, Durkins, Kellys and Careys--and those who place an O’ before their last name just one day a year--took to the streets by the hundreds of thousands today for annual St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.

Irish eyes were smilin’ from New York’s 5th Avenue--site of the nation’s oldest and biggest St. Pat’s Day parade--across the Windy City and its Kelly-green-dyed river to the West Coast, where patrons gathered at Dublin, Calif., taverns for green beer-drinking contests.

An estimated 1 million Irish and honorary Irish turned out for the wearin’ o’ the green in New York, where the city’s 226th annual parade stepped off under sunny skies on 5th Avenue from 34th to 86th streets.

Grand Marshal William Burke of the Bank of Ireland led the traditional procession, followed by 185 marching and bagpipe bands and hundreds of organizations for the day of celebrating the patron saint of Ireland. About 3,000 police officers also were on hand to keep the revelers in line.

The thousands of marchers filed past St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where they were greeted by Cardinal John O’Connor, who expressed his sadness at the violence in Northern Ireland.

“I hope the marchers and the observers remember the horrors in Belfast in the past few days,” he said, as unit after unit paused to salute him. “I hope the parade will be a prayer for peace and justice.”

River Dyed Green

In Chicago, city workers poured about 100 pounds of biodegradable green dye into the already-green Chicago River, making for a much brighter shade and signaling the start of the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade down Dearborn Street in the Loop.

“Its a great day,” said Butch McGuire, owner of one of the city’s famous watering holes. “The weather is clear and it’s not snowing. I see down the road tens of thousands of people lined up for this parade.”

Celebrants in Dublin, Calif., gathered for green beer-drinking contests and to watch the telecast of the Dublin, Ireland, parade, in which some city officials participated.