Milwaukee St. Patrick's Parade

MILWAUKEE-The Shamrock Club of Wisconsin's 48th Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade returned to Downtown Milwaukee Saturday with cool temperatures but brilliant sunshine.

This year's parade  featured more than 140 units including Irish dance groups, pipe and drum corps and local celebrities and dignitaries. 

The Friends of St. Patrick, in partnership with the Hunger Task Force, will collect non-perishable food donations during the parade.  Volunteers will walk the parade route with grocery carts collecting the donated food items.

 

The Shamrock Club of Wisconsin and the Westown Association, along with presenting sponsor Killian's Irish Stout, collaborated  on Wisconsin's oldest and largest St. Patrick's Day celebration. 

Although the Shamrock Club of Wisconsin is celebrating its 48th anniversary of producing the parade, the event dates back to 1843.  It predates the incorporation of the State of Wisconsin and the City of Milwaukee.  Milwaukee's parade is the sixth oldest in the nation.