Irish Society seeking funding help to cover Ottawa St. Patrick’s Day parade costs

A float in Ottawa's St. Patrick's Day parade is seen in this undated file image.

The Irish Society of the National Capital Region says it is turning to the public to help cover a funding shortfall for the first St. Patrick’s Day parade in Ottawa since 2019.

The parade will be held at noon on March 7, marching from the Supreme Court of Canada, down Wellington Street, past Parliament and ending in the ByWard Market.

“Ottawa’s Irish Society NCR needs your help. We’re a few dollars short of the $65,000 needed to keep the St. Patrick’s Parade running this year. Rising security costs are hitting everyone, but we’re determined to keep this celebration safe, vibrant, and welcoming. We are asking Ottawa to stand with us as we mark St. Patrick’s Day and Ottawa’s bicentennial,” the Irish Society said on Facebook.

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Irish Society president Thomas O’Neill says there is a $19,500 shortfall this year and the organization has turned to crowdfunding to fill the gap.

“The parade is a $65,000 endeavour. It requires a lot more money than it did in previous years,” he told CTV News Ottawa. “We’d like to get more money to go over the top and make sure we’re a success.”

O’Neill says having the parade this year is particularly important because it’s Ottawa’s bicentennial.

“It is the bicentennial of the start of construction of the Rideau Canal. It was done by the Irish, it was done by immigrants. All immigrants. And this is why it’s so important this year, of all, that the parade come back for 2026,” he said.

This is the first year the parade has been held in Ottawa since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, it has encountered several difficulties. The 2023 parade was cancelled due to a lack of volunteers and funding and the 2024 parade was cancelled after organizers did not receive a parade permit. In 2025, the parade was cancelled due to the high cost of policing and delays in obtaining the parade permit. Officials said policing costs for a parade down Elgin Street would have been more than $35,000.

O’Neill says the parade is starting from scratch this year after being away for so long.

“You have to buy new flags, you have to buy hardware, re-fix the floats, everything that hasn’t been idled for five, six, seven, eight years,” he said.

The Irish Society’s goal is to make the return of the St. Patrick’s Day parade a big event in the capital.

“This year, we brought in the Run Ottawa team that’s going to start a race at 11 o’clock… We’re doing a lot more things,” O’Neill said.

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“We’ve got partnerships with LiUNA, the trade workers, who bought a giant 50-by-25-foot Irish flag that will be in the parade. We’ve worked with St. Patrick’s High School students, we’ve got 48 students who will be marching, all the colours of Ireland and all the county flags of Ireland in the parade. We have 160 to 200 cadets marching and we have seven bands. We’re trying to bring it back in the proper way it should be. This is a big city, so it’s got to be big time.”

Details on where to donate can be found on the Irish Society’s website.

“You don’t have to be Irish. You can just donate. Cash is still green. We’re happy with all green things,” said O’Neill.