Days away from the St. Patrick’s Day Parade this weekend, organizers plan to implement a few changes to the parade in an effort to keep things safer than last year.
For starters, this year’s parade will begin an hour and a half earlier, at 11:30 a.m. Sunday.
“Last year at the parade, it was an embarrassment, with the level of drinking and violence,” City Councilor Ed Flynn said Monday.
Flynn, the parade’s general chairman, has worked over the past year convening a task force comprised of South Boston elected officials, the South Boston Allied Veterans War Council, and other city and state agencies to reach out to neighboring businesses and schools throughout the state.
“To remind their students that we have a zero-tolerance policy here in the city of Boston,” Flynn said.
If the changes don’t keep crowds from being rowdy like last year, Flynn said he’d work to keep the parade out of South Boston altogether next year.
“If it gets out of hand, then I’m willing to move the parade out of South Boston,” he said Monday. “I’d rather have no parade than have that type of embarrassment happen again.”
South Boston residents like Joe Cook may object to a measure like that.
“No, nay, never!” he sang. “No, that won’t happen. Always in Southie.”
Although Boston is down about 130 police officers this year, Flynn says he’s confident they’ll be able to curb any unruly behavior.
“But it’s going to take all of us together to ensure we have a safe parade,” Flynn said.
The councilor added that he’d like to keep the focus of this parade on Evacuation Day on honoring all the war veterans, military and first responders.
This year’s parade route follows its traditional course, up West Broadway to East Broadway, turning down P Street onto East 4th street to K Street onto East 5th Street, past Dorchester Heights, down to Telegraph Street to Dorchester Street, ending in Andrews Square.