In Kansas City, a Festive Yet Cautious St. Patrick’s Day Parade

U.S.|In Kansas City, a Festive Yet Cautious St. Patrick’s Day Parade https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/17/us/st-patricks-day-kc-parade.html You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. A sizable but smaller crowd gathered one month after the Super Bowl parade shooting. Some were wary, but […]

T Kauer T Kauer
Mar 18, 2024 - 05:55
In Kansas City, a Festive Yet Cautious St. Patrick’s Day Parade

In Kansas City, a Festive Yet Cautious St. Patrick’s Day Parade thumbnail

U.S.|In Kansas City, a Festive Yet Cautious St. Patrick’s Day Parade

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/17/us/st-patricks-day-kc-parade.html

You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.

A sizable but smaller crowd gathered one month after the Super Bowl parade shooting. Some were wary, but many were determined to not let the tragedy disrupt a treasured tradition.

A group of bagpipe players, wearing uniforms, marches down the parade. Three people wearing green cowboy hats and sitting in lawn chairs are in the foreground, watching the parade.
The St. Patrick’s Day parade in Kansas City, Mo., on Sunday appeared to be much smaller than past years.Credit…Chase Castor for The New York Times

By Colbi Edmonds and Lauren Fox Kanan

Colbi Edmonds reported from New York, and Lauren Fox Kanan reported from the parade in Kansas City, Mo.

Irish dancers, Gaelic football players, green everything: Thousands of spectators gathered for the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Kansas City, Mo., on Sunday, the first citywide parade since a deadly shooting last month roiled the city’s Super Bowl celebration.

The St. Patrick’s Day parade, the city’s 50th this year, is regarded as one of the country’s largest, with crowds known to reach hundreds of thousands. On Sunday, a sizable — but notably smaller — crowd sporting green beanies, vests, cowboy hats and sweatshirts came together, even under high winds and chilly temperatures.

The parade showcased Gaelic Athletic Club members demonstrating their hurling skills, bagpipe players, antique fire trucks and lots of green items, including cotton candy, plaid hats and stuffed animals. There was a stand with T-shirts that read “Kansas City has our own St. Patrick,” with a photo of the Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes — which at one point were almost blown away by the fierce winds.

Image

The St. Patrick’s Day parade, the city’s 50th this year, is regarded as one of the country’s largest.Credit…Chase Castor for The New York Times

But the festivities were not without the somber reminder of a shooting at the Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade on Feb. 14 that left one dead and 22 injured, rattling the community. Two men, Lyndell Mays, 23, and Dominic Miller, 18, were charged with murder in connection to the shooting, and two teenagers were charged with resisting arrest and “gun-related” offenses.

Still, many on Sunday were determined to not let last month’s tragedy disrupt a treasured tradition.

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