Parade honors Saint Patrick in Bricktown and downtown Oklahoma City


The annual Oklahoma City St. Patrick’s Day parade, led this year by Grand Marshal Patrick Rooney, will be this Saturday (March 17) in downtown Oklahoma City.

Always organized on the Saturday closest to the feast day of the man known to history as “the Enlightener of Ireland,” the local parade falls on the actual day of the celebration this year. That means Bricktown and the downtown area will be more festive than ever. Marchers will enter the old warehouse area just as an annual party hits its peak.

While the parade begins officially at 1 p.m., organizers encourage participants to start lining up in the morning, certainly before Noon. Spectators are encouraged to find a favorite spot for viewing the parade by noon, or 12:30 p.m. at the latest.

Staging area is on Broadway Avenue north of 5th street up to 8th, and west to Robinson Avenue. From the 5th Avenue commencement, marchers will head south on Broadway, turning into Bricktown on Sheridan.

The parade is always held, regardless of weather conditions.

U.S. Military veterans from all branches of the service will be scattered throughout the parade this year.

Tribal color guards, Irish dancers, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, high school Junior ROTC units, beauty queens, assorted equestrian units, car clubs, civic group floats and law enforcement units are included in what has become one of the largest regional St. Patrick’s Day parades in the United States.

The Knights of Columbus have been a participating unit in every parade since the first official one held in the city three decades ago. Members of Oklahoma Council 1038 join each year with Knights in full regalia from the Chief Justice Matthew John Kane Assembly to march down Broadway. Many other councils and assemblies usually join in the march.

Among the most popular entries each year are bagpipers from throughout the state, gathered into the Massed Pipes and Drums of Oklahoma. When that unit reaches the west end of Bricktown each year and begins to play “Scotland the Brave,” the crowd erupts into cheers and applause.

Local celebration of St. Patrick actually began last weekend, with the “Green Tie Gala” sponsored by Catholic Charities. The event, held at the National Cowboy Museum, benefited the Sanctuary Women’s Development Center in south Oklahoma City.
Rooney, chosen by parade organizers as the Grand Marshal, continues the tradition of honoring individuals of Irish descent who have contributed significantly to the quality of life in Oklahoma City.

Rooney, feted at the gala, is chairman and controlling shareholder of First National Bank of Oklahoma. He serves on the boards of United Way, Last Frontier Boy Scouts of America, and the Medical Research Foundation. He is also a past chairman of The Education and Employment Ministry (TEEM), and a MAPS for Kids trustee.

The parade weekend falls during the run of the Majestic Roofing Baseball Program (March 9 – March 31). Teams scheduled to play on Saint Patrick’s Day at Bricktown Ballpark include Stroud vs. Davenport (11 a.m.), Beggs vs. Tulsa (2 p.m.), and Moss vs. Union City (5 p.m).

For 21 years in a row, a “St. Patty’s Day” Block Party has been held in the historic Bricktown business district. Festivities unfold starting at noon, on the Corner of Sheridan and Oklahoma Avenue. About 2 p.m, live music will begin on an outdoor stage. Businesses involved in the party said visitors will find green beer, soft drinks and more available. Festivities will last until 10 p.m. or later.

About Saint Patrick, and the city parade

March 17, considered a feast day in many Christian churches, honors the date that St. Patrick, a Fifth Century priest and bishop who converted the people of the Emerald Isle from Druidism and related pagan faiths to Christianity, passed from this world into the next.

Many aspects of his earthly life are uncertain, including the precise years he lived. Most historians accept evidence he was enslaved in Ireland as a boy, escaping as a young man to mainland Europe. As a young priest, according to the “Confessio” attributed to him, Patrick received a communication (in some traditional narratives described as a vision) from the Celtic people begging him to return to the island.

He did so and became the principal (not all scholars agree he was the first) force for the transformation of Ireland into a Christian stronghold.

That short book known as the “Confessio,” and a fervent Christ-centered prayer also attributed to him, have inspired believers for centuries. 

Also known as Patricius (Latin) and Padraig (Celtic), Patrick became, in time, a symbol of the Irish people worldwide.
Like Saint Augustine of Hippo, his status as an early Christian leader led to his acceptance as a saint by many arms of the Christian tradition. Patrick is regarded as a saint in the traditions of the Roman, Orthodox and Episcopal (Anglican) Churches. The “Christ-centeredness” of his writings draw to him many Christians outside of the Roman tradition, including these words from the “Breastplate” of Patrick:

“Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me.”

The Irish writer William Butler Yeats, said of Saint Patrick: “Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.” 

Among the stories told about Patrick of Ireland is a narrative focused on his youthful years as a slave on the Emerald Isle. He watched the sheep of his masters in cold and rain, snow and sunshine. He tended them as if they were his own, even as he longed for freedom.

Years later, when Patrick felt that mysterious call to return and serve the people who had enslaved me, the story goes that he dreamed they were like sheep without a shepherd, and so he returned.

One year, not long ago, the mettle of Oklahoma City’s parade organizers was tested as a bitter storm struck the city, bringing with it stinging sleet and an icy cover over the downtown streets.

Those who managed to make it consulted with parade marshals and organizers, and it was agreed to step off despite the inclement conditions. 

And so was held the shortest (45 minutes or so) local St. Patrick’s parade in modern history.

Among the marchers was a solitary Knight who traversed the route in the cold sleet and snow. As the years pass, friends remembering that day describe the route as “up hill in the snow, both ways.” And, being Irish, of course the snow gets deeper with each telling. 

The appeal of St. Patrick is rooted in his example of service, and in the love of humanity he manifested. That love still, at least on their best days, characterizes the Irish, and other peoples.  

In Oklahoma City and Dublin, in New York and Boston, in villages and towns around a troubled world of abiding tragedy, the day he died is honored, to be sure.

Yet, the way he lived is best remembered. That memory sustains his admirers in periods of joy, and through sorrow. 
Note: McGuigan is past grand marshal of the Oklahoma City St. Patrick’s Day parade. Parade photos accompanying this story were taken by Chris Cook.