Viewing Tips for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in NYC

New York’s 255th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade is next Monday.  Maybe this is the year to let your kids to witness the largest parade of its kind in the world, with over 150,000 marchers and approximately 2 million spectators.

Beginning at 11 am the 2-mile long parade route will start at Fifth Avenue and 44th Street and ends at Fifth Avenue and 86th Street. For the best viewing, head north of 65th Street, where the crowds start to thin out. The steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a great spot from which to watch.

If you don’t like the sound of bagpipes, don’t go. If you don’t want to see people drinking beer at midday, don’t go. But if you want to see an historic, exuberant celebration of Irish heritage, plus a full compliment of New York’s Bravest and Finest, then don’t miss it. I’m not Irish, but watching the parade always made me feel proud to be a (now transplanted) New Yorker, and an American.