Parade floats and marchers wound through the neighbourhood of South Boston, a centre of Irish-American heritage in a city where more than one in every five people is of Irish descent. The parade, which dates to the turn of the 20th century, marks both St Patrick’s Day and Evacuation Day, which commemorates the day in 1776 when British troops left Boston after a protracted siege during the Revolutionary War. Participants dressed as Minutemen march during the St Patrick’s Day parade (Robert F Bukaty/AP)The South Boston Allied War Veterans Council organises the parade and this year’s chief marshal was retired Navy Lt Cmdr Alanna Devlin Ball, who represented the US at the 2023 Invictus Games in Germany where she took home gold in powerlifting. Organisers for one of the groups, Boston Pride, heralded the move as a point of progress at the time. Chicago held its St Patrick’s Day parade on Saturday.

Source: The Times March 16, 2025 21:43 UTC