St. Pats For All (Photo by Michael Dorgan, Queens Post)
Jan. 15, 2025 By Shane O’Brien
The St. Pat’s for All Parade will return to Sunnyside and Woodside on March 2, with organizers expecting thousands to participate in the annual celebration of Irish heritage and inclusivity.
The parade is the largest event in Sunnyside and will see dozens of Irish cultural groups, LGBT organizations, music groups, marching bands, and groups representing cultures from around the world take to Skillman Avenue on Sunday, March 2.
St Pat’s for All, now in its 26th year, was founded as a protest against the exclusion of the LGBT community from the Manhattan St. Patrick’s Day Parade and has now evolved into a massive neighborhood celebration. Last year’s event drew over 120 groups and about 3,800 participants to Skillman Avenue.
Archley Prudent, co-chair of St. Pat’s for All, credited the parade’s 25th-anniversary celebration and a day of glorious sunshine for the record-breaking numbers and noted that tens of thousands of people lined the parade route for the 2024 event. He said organizers hope to emulate the record-breaking numbers of 2024 for the upcoming event on March 2.
The 2025 St. Pat’s for All Parade will follow the traditional parade route, beginning in Sunnyside at the intersection of Skillman Avenue and 43rd Street before and finishing at 58th Street and Woodside Avenue.
The event will kick off with music and speeches at noon, with the parade set to kick off at 1 p.m.
Legendary American singer-songwriter Judy Collins and Lord Mayor of Belfast Micky Murray will serve as grand marshals for the 2025 parade, with other special guests set to be announced in the coming weeks.
Prudent believes that Murray, who is Belfast’s first openly gay mayor, showcases the progress of modern Ireland and credited Murray with doing “amazing” work in the Northern Irish city.
“That’s progress to me,” Prudent said. “That’s something that we need to show here.”
Prudent noted that St. Pat’s for All has evolved since forming as a protest event against the exclusion of LGBT groups from the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 1999.
The Manhattan parade lifted its ban on LGBT in 2014, while the Staten Island parade will allow LGBT groups to march for the very first time in its 60-year history in 2025, which also takes place on March 2.
However, Prudent stated that St. Pat’s for All has taken on a “different shape” since its founding 26 years ago, evolving into a celebration of Sunnyside and Queens. St. Pat’s for All remains a protest parade at heart; however, it celebrates diversity and welcomes groups from all backgrounds and ethnicities.
Organizers are keen to stand in solidarity with the trans community for the 2025 parade, Prudent said, stating that recent rhetoric has left trans people shut out and disrespected.
While the parade remains a celebration of Irish culture, it also aims to celebrate those of non-Irish or “Irish-hyphenated” backgrounds, Prudent said.
“We cannot talk diversity, we cannot talk inclusion if people go to our website and they’re not seeing themselves,” Prudent said.
Prudent noted that progress has been made in the Manhattan and Staten Island parades in recent years but said St. Pat’s for All would continue to play an important role for the LGBT community in New York. He also credited Council Member Julie Won and Irish Consul-General Helena Nolan for being long-standing supporters of the annual event.
Registration is now open for any group interested in taking part in the 2025 St. Pat’s for All parade, with groups eligible to register until Feb. 27.
Anyone interested in donating to St. Pat’s for All can do so by visiting the parade’s website.
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