The Minneapolis St. Patrick’s Day parade is back on Nicollet Mall.
After move to the suburbs during COVID, Minneapolis St. Patrick’s Day parade will be back downtown
The parade, scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, will finally be back on Nicollet Mall since 2019.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
March 16, 2025 at 8:43PM
It’s the first time the celebration will be held downtown after moving to Columbia Heights in 2021 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting at 6 p.m. Monday, dozens of floats will travel down Nicollet Mall from Sixth to 12th streets.
“The weather looks favorable, and it’ll be nice to get our feet wet again in Minneapolis,” said Sean Clerkin, president of the Minneapolis St. Patrick’s Day Association.
The Minneapolis parade started in 1969 with only one float in a short caravan between two pubs. Clerkin said the event has since grown with hundreds of people flooding downtown to participate in the revelry. He said he expects roughly 70 floats and participant groups to fill out the parade for its 57th year.
After the outbreak of COVID-19 cancelled the parade in 2020, organizers moved it to Columbia Heights the following year. It was the first time it was ever held somewhere other than downtown Minneapolis. Due to pandemic restrictions during that time, parade-goers remained in their cars.
The parade has taken place in the suburb since, which Clerkin said brought out “a lot more residents and families of Columbia Heights to support it.
“It was a little bit of a different atmosphere in a smaller city, where in Minneapolis we had an influx of people from different communities coming downtown, including the bands and the floats and the cars and people.”
Clerkin said the celebration intentionally starts hours after the downtown St. Paul parade, which begins at noon Monday, so parade-goers and participants can attend both events.
Following the Minneapolis parade, a celebration will take place at Brit’s Pub.
“I personally think Nicollet Mall is one of the best malls to go around for a parade,” Clerkin said, adding that many businesses along the route, including those with Irish roots, “always look forward to an influx of spectators.”
Metro Transit is alerting residents that detours are in place from 5 to 10 p.m. Monday for buses with stops along the parade route.
Police haven’t arrested anyone in connection with the shooting, which left a 16-year-old boy with life-threatening injuries.
