Galway’s olympic champions Fiona Murtagh & Aifric Keogh will lead the St Patrick’s Day parade through the city this week.
The St Patrick’s Day parade will be making a much welcomed return to the streets of Galway this Thursday, after being cancelled for two years.
Fiona Murtagh, from Moycullen, and Furbo native Aifric Keogh won the Bronze in the Womens Fours rowing at the Tokyo Olympics last September.
The will serve as the Grand Marshals for the 2022 parade, which is sure to draw spectacular crowds as people celebrate a return to public life.
They will be joined by the Macnas drummers, Galway Community Circus and many others in a community carnival of colour, music and spectacle.
The 2020 parade, first to be cancelled in the COVID pandemic, was supposed to celebrate special guest Frank Downes.
Over the course of 40 years this incredible man has raised more than €2 million in donations for the Irish Guide Dogs Association.
In a sign that good things do come to those who wait, Frank will be joining the two Olympian Marshals at this year’s parade.
The St Patrick’s Day Parade will take place at 11:30am this Thursday, starting at University Road, and wending its way through the city centre, before finishing at Bothar na mBan.
The parade route will take it from University Road, past the Cathedral and across the Salmon Weir Bridge, down Francis Street and Eglinton Street, across the top of Eyre Square and up Prospect Hill, before finishing at Bothar na mBan.
Two wheelchair accessible areas for viewing the parade will be available at Galway Cathedral and Eyre Square. Please contact candc@galwaycity.ie for more information.
There will be a host of music, sports, and arts events taking place across the city in the four day St Patrick’s Day festival this year.
The government has designated this Friday as a special public holiday so people can properly enjoy the festivities over the weekend.
