San Francisco St. Patrick's Day Parade

You don’t need to be Irish to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Matter of fact, it’s not even (technically) a legal Holiday in the United States. There are a couple of exceptions, though. There are two place in the nation that have officially made St. Patricks Day a legal holiday, Suffolk County, Massachusetts and Savannah, Georgia. Even better, when the Governor of Suffolk County made it official in 1941, he actually signed the bill in green ink.

Needless to say, legal or not, St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated all over the nation in a big way including St. Patrick’s Day Pub Crawls, Festivals, Performances and, of course, Parades. If you are looking for things to do in San Francisco, you definitely won’t be disappointed.

Held every year since 1852, the San Francisco St. Patrick’s Day celebration is a long standing tradition in the city. Produced by the United Irish Societies on San Francisco, the official celebration includes both a parade and a festival that usually take place on the Saturday closest to March 17. It is the largest Irish event on the West Coast, attracting more than 100,000 people each year. The parade kicks off at the intersection of Market and 2nd Street and then continues down Market Street with a variety of Irish bands, hundreds of floats, Irish dancers and more as they head towards the celebratory festival at Civic Center Plaza, which is directly in front of of San Francisco’s City Hall.

2024 St. Patrick’s Day Parade

Event Details

Parade Theme: UniteSF

Date and Times:

Saturday, March 16 | 11:30AM to 6PM

Parade: 11:30AM to 2PM
Celebration: 2PM to 6PM

Schedule of Events:

11:30AM: Parade Begins (2nd and Market Street)

11:30AM: Pre-Celebration at Civic Center Plaza. Before the celebration, there will be vendors and music at the Plaza.

2PM: End of the Parade. It will stop in front of City Hall at Civic Center Plaza

2PM: The Celebration Begins at Civic Center Plaza. Live Music Starts.

6PM: Event Ends

Live Music by:

The Hooks
Glide Ensemble and Change Band
Dublin Soul
+ special guests (see description below)

Don’t miss the special tribute to two iconic Irish Musicians who passed away in 2023, Sinead O’Connor and Shane MacGowan.

UniteSF

The St. Patrick’s Day Parade in San Francisco adopts a theme every year and for 2024, they have chosen “UniteSF.” This represents a vision to celebrate the holiday by bringing together and honoring the myriad of groups that make this city truly exceptional. San Francisco, renowned for its many distinct groups of people, stands as a beacon of global cultures living in harmony. “UniteSF” aims to showcase this through a grand celebration that transcends the parade itself, weaving together dance, music, arts, and culinary delights representing the city’s population.