All set for the big parade in Newport

Marching bands, colourful floats with imaginative and topical themes and walking tall entertainers on their stilts, will make up some of the variety for spectators at the annual St Patrick's Day parade.

The parade for 2025 takes place on Saturday, March 15, and the theme for this year is 'Community Heroes' with many of the local community groups and organisations taking part with floats.

The floats can be relied upon to feature some topical scenes as usual with odds on that for a US president could be among those spotted among the participants so everyone will be keeping a look out for any other international visitors.

Assembly takes place from shortly after 11am at Centra Supermarket and on the approach to the town from Limerick Road. It is expected to take up to an hour and half for the parade to pass the grand stand at Main Street, following which there will be the announcement of winners in the various categories and the presentation of the prizes.

Leading the organising committee is Micheal Lenihan, chairman, who has put a lot of work into ensuring that the tradition of the parade to celebrate the national holiday in maintained on the annual calendar of events in the town.

He is supported by a large committee including Deirdre Moloney, Mary Downes, Niamh Deegan, Laura Guiney, Breda Lenihan, Deirdre Hackett, Michael Coffey, Joshua Farrell, Isaac Shiels, Pat Brennan, Marguerite Mooney, Cllr Fiona Bonfield and Caitriona O'Brien.

In recent years less than favourable weather has failed to deter hundreds from lining the route each year to enjoy the parade which brought a great atmosphere to the town for the day and with the prospect of more favourable weather conditions for this year, Saturday week should be another enjoyable day out for all.