Jeff Schmidt, vice president of the St. Patrick's Association, Inc., weighs in on the city of St. Paul's decision to relent and allow the St. Patrick's Day parade to unfold on the actual St. Patrick's Day holiday, March 17, instead of the preceding Saturday.
"Ultimately, we decided we wanted to stick with the date, mostly because of the constituents we work with," Schmidt said. "There was even that petition that went out. It went down to tradition. ... People just like to have that experience of taking kids out of school, they make a day of it."
Schmidt said some parade units had expressed concern about not being able to attend the parade if it were permanently moved to Saturdays.
"The Brian Boru Pipe Band, on Saturdays, they typically have another event they go to," he said. "They wouldn't have been able to attend the parade if we had it on a Saturday." Additional arguments for and against moving the date of the parade are detailed here and here.
The post The St. Patrick's Association comments on St. Paul's St. Patrick's Day parade staying on St. Patrick's Day instead of the preceding Saturday, which some call silly appeared first on City Hall Scoop.