How Montreal’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade still marches on 200 years later

On March 16, 2025, Montreal’s streets will be awash in green for the 200th edition of the city’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade—an event that, with two centuries under its belt, has outlived empires, revolutions, and pandemics.

Organized by the entirely volunteer-run United Irish Societies of Montreal (UIS), the parade is expected to draw over 300,000 spectators to de Maisonneuve Boulevard, featuring more than 120 groups, 20 floats, and 5,000 participants.

But beyond the spectacle, this year’s parade is a landmark moment—a testament to resilience, cultural endurance, and Montreal’s unique blend of tradition and reinvention.

Mounted policeman and official, St. Patrick's Day Parade, Montreal, QC, about 1930. | Photograph: McCord Stewart Museum

“All the history that I have in my family alone, and the history of the parade, and all the people I’ve met over the years organizing this thing… you feel like you’re being pushed with them. It’s amazing,” says Daniel Doyle Sr., the 2025 Grand Marshal.

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