Saint Patrick's Day Parade .com

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Attention all honorees (Grand Marshals Irishmen of the Year, etc...) an important message for your special day.

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2008 San Diego Saint Patrick's Day Parade

27th Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade & Festival
Saturday, March 15th, 2008.

The Irish Congress of Southern California and Guinness
are proud to present: The 27th Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade

Snail Mail and Voice Mail: Irish Congress of Southern California
P.O. Box 87011 San Diego, California 92138 call (858) 268-9111

Welcome to All Members and Friends:

The Irish Congress of Southern California, Inc. is entering a special year for our organization. This year is the 27th Anniversary St. Patrick’s Day Parade. From a concept of the Founding Fathers to the present Parade, it has grown enormously over 27 years. Your help and participation has made this event, a keystone in family entertainment and one of the premier Irish cultural events in San Diego. Let us make this a year to thank all those in the past that have brought us to this year.

The costs involved in presenting this parade have grown enormously over the past few years. We are now required to reimburse the city for their services related to the parade and festival. This costs alone, last year, amounted to over $10,000. This is why we are asking you for more support this year.

We ask that all our members, friends, sponsors, businesses and vendors make an extra effort to help the Irish Congress make the 25th St Patrick’s Day Parade successful. Your participation in any manner that you are able is very important. Donate, Sponsor, Volunteer, Enter or Attend the Parade and Festival. Your participation in the Dinner Dance/Colleen Contest or any of the other pre-parade events we are planning is critical. We need you to make an extra effort this year. We also ask that you contact us with any suggestions you have for improving our Fund Raising efforts and any other ideas, you believe will improve the parade and festival.

We thank you for all your past help and we are looking forward to presenting the best parade, ever, in 2006.

Dan Passmore
Chairman of the Board
The Irish Congress of Southern California, Inc.

This years 2004 theme: "Unity with the Medical Arts and Sciences".

St. Patrick's Day is a traditional Irish holiday in honor of the saint credited with the spread of Christianity throughout pagan Ireland. According to legend, St. Patrick also drove each and every snake from the Island of Eiren in ancient times, which is why there are no snakes in Ireland today. (Actually there had never been any snakes native to Ireland, but that doesn't mean St. Patrick doesn't merit a celebration!)

The St. Patrick's Day parade is presented by the Irish Congress of Southern California, a volunteer organization that meets year round to plan the festivities we enjoy every March. The Parade is supported by volunteer donations of time and effort as well as money and in kind from many San Diego individuals and businesses.

You will leave our site and go to the official site

http://www.stpatsparade.org/

Smilin' Irishman Contest

Maiden of the Mournes

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FEATURED EVENTS

Saturday, January 18 --- GAA All Star Tour

Friday, January 24 --- Irish Outreach Annual Fundraiser Dinner Dance

Saturday, February 15 ---- Miss Colleen Pageant ---- Holiday Inn Embarcadero. Entry Form

Saturday, March 1 ---- Grand Shamrock Ball ---- Holiday Inn Embarcadero.

Smiling Irishman Hoopla ---- Friday, February 21. Site to be announced.Contact: Tim McCarthy 858-274-9255.

Saturday, March 15 ---- Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade and Festival ---- Dedication ceremony at 10 am in Balboa Park near 6th & Maple; Parade steps off at 6th & Juniper at 11am. Festival in the Park featuring food booths, beer service, kiddy rides, various vendors begins at 9 am. Official Parade shirts will be on sale.

The Festival in the Park has grown bigger and better with each passing year. This year we have great assortment of bands, Irish dance performances, food and vendors.

The festival will be set up in Balboa Park, along Sixth Street between Laurel St. and Nutmeg St. The festival grounds will be open from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.

There will be a green beer garden and plenty of fun stuff to do, so don't forget to drop by and recharge periodically during the Parade! For information: contact Robert Willhite at rbpatrob@nethere.com

Mesa Distributing is our "presenting sponsor".

Corporate Sponsors: We welcome your interest.

8:30 AM     Dancers Stage Irish dancing

10:00 AM     Dedication Ceremony:
Flag Raising (US Marines), Invocation, Singing of American and Irish National Anthems.

Festival Opening:

1:00 PM

Performances By: To be announced later.

Marshals

Tony Mande
(858) 258-9111

mandesd@yahoo.com

Parade Marshal's duties include helping set up the morning of the Parade, keeping the floats in the same order as the program, making sure the floats get back to park at the end of the Parade and some light traffic and crowd control. They are also there in the event that a float breaks down, if somebody faints or if any other calamity of that sort should occur.

Marshal's need to be at least 18 years of age.

The time commitment is from 6:30 a.m. to direct float entries and close off streets to around 1:30 or 2:00 p.m., when the last floats make it back to the park.

Security

Brian Stock (618) 379-1697

renaandbrian@msn.com

We also need volunteers to help out with security. The duties of the security team mostly consist of directing people, reuniting lost kids with worried parent's, or checking ID's at the Beer Garden. If there are any problems it is their job to call one of the police officers on site, they are equipped with radios for this purpose.

Security volunteers need to be of at least 21 years of age.

The time commitment is from 10 a.m. to around 4:30 or 5:00 p.m.

There will be a green beer garden and plenty of fun stuff to do, so don't forget to drop by and recharge periodically during the Parade! For information: contact Robert Willhite or Aaron Kamerling at aaronirish@aol.com rbpatrob@nethere.com

Our theme for the 2003 Parade is "Unity With The Medical Arts And Sciences". Please try to tailor your entry toward either the theme of "St. Patrick" or to an "Irish" theme.

Unfortunately we are unable to accommodate everyone and this being such a special year we expect a great response, so we suggest you complete your application and forward it to us as soon as possible. You may print it off of this page and send it in as is. Notification of your acceptance will be sent by postcard. The staging package will be supplied approximately 10 days prior to the parade date.

You may print the Float Entry form and send it to The Irish Congress directly from this site. For best results, click on the link below to access the entry form. Then, right click (or Control Click for Mac users) on the text of the form. Choose from the menu that appears the option to "Open frame in new window". This will open up the entry form in a new window so that it can be printed without the navigation bar on the left. For questions regarding float entry applications, please call (858) 258-9111 or E-mail Steve Botkin at djsdad1@lycos.com

Parade Rules

Parade Entry Form

Please read these instructions before filling out the Parade Entry Form:

1. Name of Unit: This should be the theme or what the entry depicts. (I.e. "Salute to Saint Patrick")

2. Sponsor: This should be the name of the organization entering the unit. (I.e. "Bonnie's Bicycle Shop")

3. Contact Person: If not owner supply title and necessary information.

4. Address and Telephone Number of contact person.

5. Address and Telephone Number of sponsoring organization.

6. Type of Unit: Check boxes that apply to your entry. This is critical. If your entry fits more than one category, check all boxes that apply. In order to participate in competition, the appropriate category must be checked off. This will allow for your entry being judged in it's proper category.

7. Length of Unit: This is important because special arrangements must be made for staging longer units.

8. Describe your entry in detail on the application. This will be used for the announcers as well as the media.

Please sign and return the entire application form. Without the agreement signed, your entry can not be considered.

Add your Parade E-mail: Webmaster@SaintPatricksDayParade.com

The Irish Congress of Southern California and Guinness are proud to present: The 27th Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade

The Irish Congress of Southern California and Guinness
are proud to present: The 27th Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade