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St. Patrick's Day Parade in Rochester steps off Saturday

WXXI News

The annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be chilly, but should be snow-free on Saturday. The forecast calls for sunny skies with a high in the mid 30s. City crews in recent days removed snow alongside the parade route to make way for what usually attracts tens of thousands of people.

Activities include a 5 mile road race, ‘Johnny’s Runnin’ of the Green, which starts at 9:30 a.m. on Exchange Street between Broad and Court Streets. The course proceeds south on Exchange, east on Ford Street, then south in Wilson Blvd. to Fraternity Road. At that point, runners will turn around and reverse their route back to the Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial. The course will be closed to traffic and re-open as the last runners move along the course.

At 10:30 a.m., Monroe County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo and Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren will be among the officials taking part in a flag raising ceremony at the county office building on West Main Street.

The parade steps off at 12:30 p.m. at East Ave. and Alexander Street. It travels west on East Ave. to Main Street, then goes west onto Main Street. The parade route will be closed to vehicle traffic around noon and reopen after the parade is completed, at about 3:30 p.m.

Recently city officials announced new safety protocols for this parade, and other large outdoor events. That means additional police, and closing streets for a longer period of time during the parade.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.