Why it is worth attending
Boston's Irish identity peaks each mid-March when South Boston hosts one of the nation's oldest and largest St. Patrick's parades - pipe bands, military units, floats, and politicians marching Broadway before crowds in the hundreds of thousands (the Sunday nearest March 17; route and details at the organizers' site - verify). Honest guidance for Irhal readers: the parade itself is free, colorful, and daytime family-viewable, and the marching-band spectacle genuinely entertains children; the surrounding street culture, however, is famously alcohol-heavy from morning onward, particularly along the Broadway bars. The workable family formula is early arrival, a route position away from bar clusters, and departure as the parade tail passes. Alternatively, treat it as a dates-to-know entry: Southie accommodation and transit run saturated that Sunday.
