Ennis Patrick’s Day Parade route announced

CONNOLLY, Ireland - March 12, 2013 - PRLog -- The centre piece of the day’s festivities will be the annual parade, the theme of which is “Ennis - A Musical Town”. The Parade will commence from Clare County Council’s Headquarters building rather than Ennis Courthouse this year. It will proceed down New Road before crossing over the Club Bridge and passing through Abbey Street, O’Connell Square, O’Connell Street, Barrack Street. The parade will terminate in the Market.

The Mayor of Ennis, Cllr. Peter Considine will lead the parade in a horse-drawn carriage, which will be followed by 50 groups representing the many aspects of life in Ennis and County Clare. This year’s parade will also feature the 40-strong St Mary’s Catholic School Marching Band from Phoenix which is travelling to the Clare County Capital as part of the 25th anniversary celebration of Ennis’ twinning relationship with the Arizona State Capital.

There will also be artistic, cultural and sporting groups participating in the parade together with schools, boy scouts and a range of community groups. The Mayor of Langenfeld, Frank Schneider will lead a delegation from Germany to Ennis following on from the establishment of links between Ennis and the German town, which lies between Düsseldorf and Cologne.

Speaking ahead of the parade, Mayor Considine stated: “The Parade has become a major community event in recent years, with a growing number and variety of participants.  Huge numbers of spectators are expected along the parade route to join in the celebrations again this year.”

Special traffic management arrangements will be in place involving road/street closures, restricted access to the parade route and traffic diversions.  Gardaí will be on point duty on the day. The co-operation of the public is requested and vehicle owners are asked to observe the road/street closures which will be in place from 8.00 a.m. to 2.30 p.m.

Meanwhile, three well-known Ennis landmarks are being illuminated in green light in the run-up to St. Patrick’s Day as part of Tourism Ireland’s annual ‘global greening’ initiative.

St. Flannan’s College, the Daniel O’Connell monument and Ennis Courthouse have joined the Pyramids of Giza, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Sydney Opera House, the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen, HMS Belfast in London and dozens of other landmarks and iconic sites around the world in the initiative.