Great day for St. Patrick’s Day parade

Hundreds of spectators lined up in downtown La Crosse on Saturday to see the city’s first holiday parade in over a year, with sunshine and 50-degree weather.

The St. Patrick’s Day parade took place as usual on the Saturday before March 17th, starting at 2nd and State and proceeding several blocks on Main Street.

Last year’s St. Patrick’s parade was cancelled the day before the event, when the governor’s office asked Wisconsin cities to cancel public activities as the COVID-19 outbreak was spreading.

Other 2020 celebrations in La Crosse were called off as well, including Oktoberfest and Riverfest, but those festivals were well-represented in Saturday’s parade, as they plan to resume in 2021.

Since the pandemic is still on, many people in the parade and spectators were wearing face masks, and participants could not hand out candy or other items to watchers along the route.