St Patrick's Day dilemma

With apologies in advance for politicising a travel forum...

My friend %26amp; I will be over in New York on St Patrick%26#39;s Day 2006. We%26#39;re from Northern Ireland %26amp; were looking forward to attending the official parade and having a bit of a laugh.

However, we%26#39;ve since looked at the (saintpatricksdayparade.com) and having read comments on both this site and other forums, I%26#39;m really unhappy that the organisers seems to taking a some very one-sided political stands on a couple of issues which I won%26#39;t bother anyone visiting this site with, but needless to say we don%26#39;t agree with and have found a bit difficult to ignore.

We%26#39;re not overly political people (honestly!), but coming from the part of Ireland that we do, we really don%26#39;t want to go to a parade and feel we are inadvertently supporting any kind of a political cause - even if the parade itself just seems like a bit of fun.

So...in a very long-winded way, what I want to ask is - are there any ';unofficial'; st patrick%26#39;s day events that we could go to, so we can celebrate the day and have some fun without feeling that we%26#39;re unwittingly or otherwise making some kind of political statement?

(Apologies again for bringing in politics to this forum!)

St Patrick's Day dilemma

Your request is totally legitimate, so no need to apologize.

While it%26#39;s one of New York%26#39;s biggest party parades, the St. Patrick%26#39;s Parade does have political overtones.

If it helps somewhat, I go to lots of events where my political and religious views differ. Sometimes I can just put it aside for a few hours and enjoy the spectacle. I do completely understand if you cannot.

The day is also celebrated at all the many Irish pubs.

St Patrick's Day dilemma

I agree with Bettina - no need to apologize. The NYC St. Pat%26#39;s Day Parade often attracts contraversy, and many advocacy groups make clear statements in March that the Order of Hibernians do not represent ';all'; Irish Americans.

Be that as it may, most of the other boroughs have their own ST. Pat%26#39;s Day Parades, usuallly on the closest weekend to the day. There will be smaller, low-key and more light-hearted parades in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx. They have reputations for being more inclusive and allowing groups with differing opinions participate.(I don%26#39;t know if there is one in Staten Island.)

Bonus: The Irish Echo is now being published in ';The Mother Land';!! The Irish Echo is America%26#39;s largest Irish-Amercian-culture newspaper, and decided to start publishing in Ireland about a month ago.

http://www.irishecho.com/

I%26#39;m sure they will have thorough parade listings. Or you can email them.

I heard from a radio interview with the publisher that this was due to (a) all the ex-ex-pats who are going back to Ireland, (b) a trend of Irish-Americans seeking their fortune in Ireland, and (c) all the Irish women who come to New York just to go shopping. (Not kidding - he really said that!)

Thanks Bettina and Queensboulevard for your responses. I%26#39;ll definitely have to check out the Irish Echo website and I think I may have seen print copies floating around somewhere recently. I%26#39;ll also see about the parades in the other boroughs - apart from anything else, it might entice us out of Manhattan, instead of spending our whole holiday there, doing the standard tourist trail!

And maybe you are both right and we should stop stressing about it so much and just enjoy the chance to see the biggest St Paddy%26#39;s day parade without dwelling too much on politics and ';issues'; that we already hear enough about at home!

Thanks again!