After years of quiet streets in mid-March, Ottawa is set to turn green once again.
The St. Patrick’s Day Parade is returning to the capital on Saturday, March 7 — complete with 45 floats, a 25-by-50-foot Irish tricolour, marching families, and a brand-new one-mile run through the downtown core. This year’s event also marks Ottawa’s first St. Patrick’s Day parade since the COVID-19 pandemic paused celebrations in 2020, making it a long-awaited homecoming for many.
But as organizers prepare to reclaim Wellington Street, they’re also asking the community to help close a funding gap to ensure the parade’s future.
For Tom O’Neil, president of the Irish Society of the National Capital Region, this year is about more than celebration — it’s about heritage.
“We actually have an Irish festival, so we start off on March 4 at the City Hall in Gatineau, where the Irish flag — for the first time — will be raised for a week to commemorate Irish Week in the National Capital region.”
The week-long festivities tie into a major milestone: the bicentennial of Bytown and the start of Rideau Canal construction in 1826 — a project built largely by Irish labourers.
On March 7 at 12:00 p.m., 45 floats will leave the Supreme Court of Canada and travel 1.6 kilometres along Wellington, Sussex and into the ByWard Market, escorted by police, RCMP officers on horseback and emergency services.
Among the highlights — what O’Neil calls the largest Irish walking flag in Canada — is a 25-by-50-foot tricolour carried by 24 men and women dressed in white, orange and green. Students from St. Patrick’s High School will also carry the flags of all 32 counties of Ireland, alongside the four provincial flags.
But the return hasn’t come without costs.
“We’re short a few dollars, so that’s why we put up a GoFundMe page because a lot of the stuff that we had acquired previously can’t be used, so we have to start everything from zero again,” said O’Neil, who is descended from Irish canal workers.
The society initially sought $19,000 to cover the roughly $65,000 expense, including security, permits, costumes and emergency services. They are still short about $15,000 of their goal.
And while support has been coming in, O’Neil said sustainability remains key.
“It will not go to waste. If not used this year, it’ll definitely be used for future years to come,” he said.
The parade has been cancelled for multiple reasons over the years. When pandemic restrictions were lifted, organizers were then faced with a lack of volunteers and no way to keep up with the costs. All of that led organizers to have difficulty obtaining a permit in 2024 and 2025.
O’Neil said those factors have been worked out this year, and the parade will go ahead no matter what. The route itself has been shortened to reduce costs and improve safety. Organizers have worked with Ottawa Police, RCMP, fire services, paramedics, Parliamentary Protective Services and city security teams.
You can learn how to donate on the Irish Society website.
Run Ottawa to host morning race
Before the floats roll, runners will take to the same route for the inaugural Emerald Mile — a one-mile race organized in partnership with Run Ottawa.
Mike Viera, executive director of Run Ottawa, said the route was too good to pass up.
“Tom had a beautiful parade route right downtown. It’s a perfect place to do a run and we’re going to do a mile run, which is a great little early season, to dust off the legs,” said Viera.
The race begins at 11:00 a.m. at the Supreme Court of Canada and finishes in the ByWard Market, passing Parliament Hill along the way. An 800-metre youth run will loop to the Eternal Flame and back.
“It’s something that’s very rare to do. It’s hard to get the permits and the closures to do something like that,” said Viera.
Beyond logistics, Viera sees the Emerald Mile as tapping into something bigger happening across the city: a running boom.
The capital has been home to many running activities from race weekends to the Army Run and Ironman. Viera said he has seen the activity grow from the city’s core to suburbs, with hundreds now attending meetups.
“There is a run club in every neighbourhood, it seems,” he said. “You get 20 to 50 people out. There’s even one called Rise and Run where they try to get out, and they finish their run by 6:30 a.m. so people can get on with their working day.”
At the event level, he says participation numbers are climbing back toward pre-pandemic highs, with race weekend registrations once again approaching 40,000 runners.
“Running and running clubs are becoming that kind of trend where it’s cool and fun to go because you’re going to meet new people. You’re going to do some exercise, and you’re trying to achieve your fitness goals,” said Viera.
