Cleveland St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Planning for the annual Cleveland’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade never stops. The United Irish Societies of Greater Cleveland, aka The St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee, prepares for the largest single day event in the State of Ohio each year, throughout the year.
Theme for 2026 has already been chosen: “Irish Legends of the Sea.” So, start getting your ideas flowing for your floats and marching units as the Irish trek through the streets of downtown Cleveland next March 17th, 2026.
Some likely floats: The famous Irish Pirate Queen, Grainne Mhaol (Grace O’Malley, pronounced “granya wail”); The Viking invaders; or Commodore John Barry, the founder of the U.S. Navy during the American Revolution; and of course, St Brendan, the first documented European to travel to North America, in the early part of the 6th Century. Also, in the running would be two ships: The Asgard (Captains Erskine and Molly Childers) and The Kelpie (Captained by Conor O’Brien and his sister Kitty).
The two ships secretly brought guns to Ireland in 1914, and used later, in the 1916 Easter Rising. Use your imagination, it is never too early to start preparing to celebrate the High Holy Day.
Cockles & Mussels
The statue of Sweet Molly Malone was commissioned in 1988 for the millennium anniversary of the City of Dublin. The song is the unofficial anthem of the city, with many a sports team pulling together chanting
“Alive, Alive Oh.”
The statue of the fabled Molly originally stood at the foot of Grafton Street, to the delight of visitors to The Irish Capital City. It was later moved to Sussex Street, outside of St. Andrews Church, which served as a visitor center for a while.
Somehow, somewhere, a “tradition” developed over the last 40 years that one received good luck by rubbing the left breast of the busty statue, go figure. Regardless of the moral underpinnings and misogyny of the so-called tradition, there has had a negative impact on the beloved bronze statue.
Molly’s breasts have become a bright shiny distraction of the overall statue, from the frequent rubbing. Evidently there is some confusion about the practice, as both breasts seem to be equally shiny. Dublin City Council has taken to posting stewards at the statue to discourage this dubious tradition.
It is thought that the statue may be elevated to make reaching her chest difficult or impossible. Note to notable groper from Trump Tower, better get to Dublin soon before you need a ladder…
Congratulations Rory McElroy
Congrats to Irish Golfer Rory McIlroy, who edged out English golfer Justin Rose to win the 2025 Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia. Rory joins an elite group of only six golfers in history to achieve a career Grand Slam; winning the Four big golf tournaments: The U.S. Open, The British Open, The PGA Championship and The Masters.
The Right to Vote
The Government in Dublin continues to cling to the Status Quo regarding the historic, centuries long Irish push for a free and united Ireland. On the other hand, Ireland’s oldest political party, Sinn Fein, continues to push for logical next steps to achieve this cherished goal.
Recently Michelle O’Neil, the leader of the government at Stormont administering the Six County statelet known as Northern Ireland, called for voting rights for citizens of all 32 counties to vote for President of Ireland. O’Neil has written to An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, urging him to make extending Irish Presidential voting rights to Irish citizens living in the north a priority.
This follows the N.I. Assembly supporting a motion calling for Irish Presidential voting rights for Irish citizens living in the north. “It is a glaring anomaly that an Irish citizen living in the north can stand for election as President of Ireland, can be elected as President of Ireland but cannot vote to elect the President of Ireland.”
The office of the President of Ireland is held in the highest regard and respect in Ireland, among the Irish diaspora and across the world. That regard and respect has a particular significance and immediacy for Irish citizens in the north, who have historically been denied participation in the life of their own nation by the historic and undemocratic injustice of partition.”
This simple common-sense step can be taken unilaterally by the government sitting in Leinster House in Dublin. It would go a long way to send a message to all the citizens of the North, loyalists and nationalists, that their voice is valuable to the whole Island of Ireland.
The Saw Doctor is IN
After a several year sojourn, The Saw Doctors, Ireland’s celebrated musical troubadours, will be touring North America again this summer. The Saw Docs will visit Cleveland’s Agora Theatre on July 18th, 2025. Chances are, it is already a sell-out, but you will not be shut out of getting your Irish on, as that same evening is the opening night of the 40th Cleveland Irish Cultural Festival at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds in Berea, Ohio.
Check out this great tradition at ClevelandIrish.org. Also visiting The North Coast this summer will be Drop Kick Murphy’s, who will be putting on their usual high energy show at Jacob’s Pavillion in Cleveland’s Flats on August 10th, 2025. Get your tickets while you can.
Pope Leo
American Catholics celebrated the advent of a U.S. born Pope as the 267th successor to St. Peter. While not Irish American, Bob Prevost did grow up on the South-side of Chicago, and attended Catholic schools, so he is at least culturally Irish American. In his role as General of the world-wide Augustinian Order, he has visited Ireland: in June of 2005, he travelled to Dublin, Tipperary and other locales to celebrate the 700th anniversary of the Augustinian Order in Ireland.
The first words of the new Pope Leo XIV, on the famous balcony at St. Peters, was “Peace.” Let us hope and pray that he will be successful in bringing peace to a world awash in the violence of a focus on self-indulgence.
Beware Tik-Tok
The Irish Data Protection Commission has fined the powerful social media company TikTok over a half-billion Euros. The behemoth web app, owned by the Red Chinese Government, was found to have transferred personal data of its users back to China, exposing millions of users to abuse and invasion of privacy by the Beijing based régime.
