‘Everybody’s Irish today’: Thousands come out for St. Patrick’s Day parade
For Chad Evans, Saturday’s trip to his hometown of Henderson offered a surprise.
Evans, of Las Vegas, said he first started attending the city’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade as a kid in the 1980s, but that he never remembered a time when the entire street near his mother’s house — a few blocks from downtown Henderson — was packed with parked cars on a parade day.
That, however, was the case Saturday as thousands packed downtown Henderson for this year’s parade, part of the 57th annual Southern Nevada Sons and Daughters of Erin St. Patrick’s Day festival.
“She has cars parked in her yard this year,” Evans said while taking in Saturday’s parade down Water Street. “I had never seen so many cars on that street. It’s a nice day outside, and it’s great to see everyone out here.”
For blocks and blocks along the Water Street District parade route Saturday morning, green-clad onlookers of all ages lined up, some brought chairs and waited for hours in prime parade position.
Thousands were on hand for the two-hour parade, including Josh Cowart, who has been a Henderson resident for the past 35 years.
He said what many were also saying Saturday — the weather, with sunny skies, very little wind and temperatures in the 60s, was close to perfect.
“It’s just a really good time,” Cowart said. “Seeing everyone wearing green and seeing everyone happy, it’s a great thing. There’s no arguing about politics or anything else. Everybody’s Irish today.”
Sea of green
The parade was a stream of colorful floats, cars, police and fire vehicles, and groups of walkers representing everything from businesses and nonprofits to youth dance teams and unions.
Many watching the parade wore green outfits, including green sunglasses, tiaras and green socks. Even many of the dogs that people brought along wore green attire.
Rebecca Gillis, who works for the city of Henderson in its accounting department, brought her 200-pound Great Dane/mastiff mix dog, Stella, along to watch the parade.
As she spoke, a group of teens approached Stella to pet her.
“She’s the hit of the show wherever we go,” Gillis said. “It’s great to be out here today. This is a great community event. A lot of people spend a lot of time to make this happen and today everything is perfect out here.”
Kat Jaquez of Las Vegas was at the parade with her boyfriend and her three teenage children. Jaquez’s birthday is Monday, St. Patrick’s Day.
“This is a great way to celebrate my birthday and St. Patty’s Day,” she said. “I love to see everyone get in the spirit of the holiday.”
To Jaquez, St. Patrick’s Day means food, drinks — there were a lot of cups filled with green-dyed beer Saturday — and corned beef, a favorite Irish dish.
At the Water Street Plaza, just steps from City Hall, food trucks offered festival foods — funnel cakes, fried Twinkies, foot-long hot dogs and other treats, though corned beef didn’t seem to be an option.
Best weekend of year for some businesses, mayor says
Henderson Mayor Michelle Romero, who rode on a fire truck during the parade, said she was elated to see so many downtown businesses, especially bars like Johnny Mac’s, packed Saturday.
“I talked to (Johnny Mac’s owner) John McGinty and he said it was extremely busy,” Romero said. “Every business downtown was like that. For some of those businesses, this is their best weekend of the year.”
At her vendor stand on the plaza, Kris Mann said the green beads, hats and Irish-themed earrings were the most popular items being sold Saturday morning. The green hats were only $5, but she also brought a few more expensive hats, which sold out quickly, she said.
Mann, a 1962 Basic High School graduate, moved to Henderson with her family as a young girl and spent nearly 50 years as a resident before moving to Utah a few years back to care for her aging parents.
“It’s amazing how this city has grown,” she said. “I remember when Henderson was a town of about 11,000 people.”
The festival concludes Sunday with a car show that’s scheduled to start at 8 a.m.
Contact Bryan Horwath at bhorwath@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0399. Follow @BryanHorwath on X.
