2018 St. Patrick’s Day Brunch and Parade

Attendees are welcome to join us for the parade AND/OR brunch. If you join us for brunch, we will walk over to the parade location together. If you join us for the parade only, please meet us at our lineup location at noon.

Registration is required for both the brunch and the parade. However, the brunch requires payment; the parade is free.

Brunch

10 a.m. | Yale Club
A pre-parade brunch will be hosted at 10 a.m. at the Yale Club. The brunch costs $40 for adults and $20 for children.

During this brunch, we will hear from special guest speaker John Harrington as well as Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham University.

John Harrington was educated at Columbia University, University College, Dublin, and he earned his PhD in literature from Rutgers University. He has written extensively on Irish literature and culture, including The Irish Beckett (1991), The Irish Play on the New York Stage (1997), and The Life of the Neighborhood Playhouse on Grand Street (2007). He edited W. W. Norton’s anthology Modern and Contemporary Irish Drama (1991; new edition 2008) and Irish Theater in America (2009). While continuing to teach and to attend academic conferences, Harrington also lectures frequently on theater and Irish culture in non-academic settings such as the Guggenheim Museum, Lincoln Center Festival, New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater, the Dublin Theatre Festival, the Manhattan Theatre Club, and others. He is a former Chairman of the Board of the PBS stations WMHT Educational Telecommunications; currently, he is a member of the Board of the Mint Theater, a professional off-Broadway company, and also a member of the Board and the Executive Council of the American Irish Historical Society of New York. Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Fordham from 2009 through 2017, Harrington is currently Academic Dean of the Fordham University London Centre, which is opening its new building at a new London location in fall 2018.

Parade

12:30 p.m. | Lineup Location TBA
Michael Griffin, associate vice president for alumni relations, and the Office of Alumni Relations invite you to march with Fordham in the 257th Annual New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Fordham University’s lineup location is will be announced by the NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee within the coming weeks. We will update this page as soon as we have the information, so please check back here before the parade.

Please RSVP so we have enough supplies for all marchers.

Parade Rules and Dress Code

The dress code for the parade is comfortable business attire. All Fordham participants must wear Fordham sashes to march with Fordham University. Sashes will be distributed at both the brunch and at Fordham’s lineup location. The sash distributors will be wearing Fordham maroon and will be located along the perimeter of the assembly point. Marchers are required to abide by the official St. Patrick’s Day Marching Rules and Dress Code:

1. All units must have two flags (Irish and American) or no flags at all. No exceptions. The American flag should be on the right and the Irish flag on the left.
2. Groups should march a minimum of eight abreast, 10 if room is available. A unit with 250+ members MUST march 10 abreast.
3. Two marshals of each marching unit should bring up the rear.
4. The only banners allowed are ones identifying the unit or “England Get Out of Ireland.” Only one identifying banner is allowed for each unit. NO EXCEPTIONS.
5. Green hats, sneakers, or other “odd ball” dress is not permitted.
6. No animals or mascots are allowed.
7. No eating, drinking, or smoking in the line of march.
8. No displays of any kind will be permitted.
9. Units should make sure they are in proper formation before approaching Fifth Avenue.
10. After units get on Fifth Avenue, no stragglers should be allowed to join the unit. Unit marshals should be on the alert for this at each intersection. Please be vigilant.
11. Leaders of organizations shall not delay the parade by leaving their places for any purpose.
12. Shirts with advertising are NOT an appropriate form of dress. No children’s pull or push wagons are permitted.
13. Please remember, we are on Fifth Avenue for one hour once a year and you should march with pride in your heritage and dress accordingly. Business dress code is required.

Can’t March?

The parade is televised live to millions of households nationwide for four hours by host station WNBC Channel Four. The broadcast is webcast live via the Internet through the parade’s website at nycstpatricksparade.org and WNBC Channel Four website at wnbc.com.