St. Patrick’s Day 2016 Parade Schedules And Routes: Boston, Buffalo And Savannah To Kick Off Irish Holiday

It’s that time of the year again when you remember you’re one-sixteenth Irish and decide it would be a good idea to dress like a leprechaun and drink whiskey until you can’t either see or speak and need to take a nap at the bar. It’s called St. Patrick’s Day: You can’t run from it, you can’t hide from it, so why not embrace it?

Almost every major city on the East Coast will be holding a parade celebrating the (SPOILER AHEAD) Welsh-born St. Patrick. If you do go to a parade, either bring along a flask or know the locations of your nearest bars.

Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade

In Boston, the spiritual home of the Irish in the U.S., the St. Patrick’s Day Parade is two things: a major celebration of many Bostonians’ Irish heritage and a license to get more drunk than usual.

The official parade in South Boston will begin at Broadway Station Sunday at 1 p.m. EDT, and its route runs 3.2 miles.

Boston officials attempted to cut the distance of the route in half this year, but a federal judge decided that doing so against the wishes of parade organizers and other people who opposed a shorter distance infringed on their rights under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Billed as one of the oldest St. Patrick’s Day parades in the country, the event in Buffalo, New York, will commence Sunday at 2 p.m., with participants gathering at the McKinley Monument before heading north on Delaware Avenue to North Street.

The air temperature is going to be in the low 40s during the day before dropping into the 20s at night. In addition to a flask, you may want to bring along a scarf and other clothing.

Savannah St. Patrick’s Day Parade

More than 300,000 people will descend on Savannah, Georgia, for its March 17 St. Patrick’s Day parade, making it the second-biggest in the country and supposedly the third-biggest in the world. Who knew? And there’s even a little bonus for people attending: In the historic district of the city, you can carry alcohol in a plastic container holding not more than 16 ounces.

The parade will start on Gwinnett Street at 10.15 a.m., proceed up through Abercorn Street and loop around to finish on Harris Street.

In conjunction with the parade, a festival will be held in the city from Thursday afternoon until Saturday night.