DALLAS — Still two days out from the annual Dallas St. Patrick’s Day Parade, tents, signs and even portable toilets were lining up along Greenville Avenue Thursday.
City and parade officials kicked off the event at a press conference going over transportation and safety details.
Inside the bars and restaurants along the several mile strip, business owners like Cory Wauson at Ozona were going through final checks.
“We start in preparation in December,” he said. “It’s like two Saturdays in one day."
More than 100,000 people come out each year to the Dallas parade, now sponsored by the Dallas Mavericks. It’s billed as the largest in the Southwest.
Mayor Eric Johnson is the parade’s grand marshal this year.
“I’m at least as Irish as [2022 grand marshal] Dirk Nowitzki is so it should be a good time,” Johnson said at the kickoff press conference.
Johnson said despite the size and the drinking the parade is family-friendly with 200 officers patrolling the area and specially designated family-friendly areas.
“We want everyone to understand that we will be enforcing the law and we want to be sure that people – no fighting and all that kind of stuff,” Johnson said. “I think it’ll be a great event like it always is.”
Wauson and Ozona are opening at 7 a.m. Saturday, situated at the end of the parade’s route that runs from just north of Northwest Highway, two miles down Greenville Avenue to finish at SMU Boulevard. It will continue until 2 p.m.
“Lower Greenville is definitely more of a party scene, and we’re more of a restaurant on any given day, so we have a lot more families that come here,” Wauson said.
Both city officials and Wauson recommend taking DART considering the road closures, which begin at 10 a.m. and traffic. DART officials said it’s their second busiest day of the year behind only the Red River Showdown.
It’ll be the 42nd year for the parade and nearly the 20th time for Wauson, who loves the business but maybe not the prep.
“We always joke around, ‘is it really worth a double Saturday’,” Wauson said. “I mean I’ve been doing it since 2006 and so I’m getting older so it’s getting harder for me because I’m getting tired.”
DART will have service to and from the parade and the 5K. Visit DART's website here for more info.
Dallas St. Patrick's Parade and Festival Details
When: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday; parade starts at 11 a.m.
Where: Greenville Avenue in Dallas, from SMU Boulevard to Northwest Highway. Full map and road closures.
DART Stations: Park Lane Station, Lovers Lane Station
Parade Route: Just north of Northwest Highway to SMU Boulevard
St. Paddy's Day Dash: Saturday, 8 a.m. Register here.