After over a decade, Hoboken Business Alliance weighs return of St. Patrick’s Day parade

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After over a decade, the Hoboken Business Alliance is seeking the public’s input to weigh the return of the St. Patrick’s Day parade.

Screenshot via YouTube.

By John Heinis/Hudson County View

“We believe that by working hand in hand with Hoboken officials, small business owners and the still strong and fiercely proud Irish American community that calls Hoboken home, we can recreate the best parts of the parade,” HBA Executive Director Roxanne Earley said in a statement.

“In order to do that we need the input of every corner of our community, and that’s why we
are promoting this survey.”

The alliance contends that the parade represents an exciting opportunity to bring crucial
economic stimulation to countless small business across the city, namely bars and restaurants, in the early part of the year when business is often slow.

In recent years the rise of ‘con’ events (such as LepreCon) has filled this gap in a in a less culturally respectful and less community-friendly way, though their presence in the Mile Square City has fizzled during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under initial plans being proposed by the HBA a stipulation of bringing back the parade would be that bar owners would commit to refusing to participate in LepreCon thus forcing the privately organized bar crawl to search for another host community.

The goal of reconstituting the parade, Earley added, would be to bring economic benefit to a greater variety of businesses including bookstores, art galleries, and more family oriented restaurants.

“Our city is widely known and appreciated for its variety of family friendly events, like the Ragamuffin Parade and annual tree lighting.” HBA President James Runkle added.

“We believe there is an opportunity to give the St. Patrick’s Parade back to our families and once again make the first Sunday of March one that celebrates the diversity and culture of Hoboken.”

“The Irish are known as great storytellers, something Kate and I, as owners of a beloved Hoboken bookstore, truly admire,” Donna Garban, of Little City Books said.

“This is something we know we can celebrate by bringing back the St. Patrick’s Day parade in a family friendly way.”

Jennie Pu, the director of the Hoboken Public Library, and Yoseline Galarza of Hoboken Hair, also spoke in favor of bringing back a family friendly version of the Irish-themed parade.

The parade hasn’t been held since 2011, the 26th year the event was held, with organizers announcing in 2012 it would be cancelled after they could not come to terms with then-Mayor Dawn Zimmer’s administration – who wanted the parade held on a week day.

“The city of Hoboken’s inability to protect our spectators, bands and participants led us to this heartbreaking decision. The idea of marching in a parade, in the dark, on a week night, is as insulting as it is unreasonable,” the parade committee said in a statement at the time.

At the 2011 parade, Hoboken police made 34 arrests and issued 296 citations for violations that included public urination and having open containers of alcohol in public, as NBC New York reported.

The online survey, which will be available until November 10th, can be filled out here.


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4 COMMENTS

  1. They don’t want a parade. They want a Mardi Gras weekend. That’s money and chaos.

    Offer them a Wednesday parade and watch how quickly they go silent with a blanked out stare.

  2. With a Mayor and a Mayoral staff that own bars in town, it is no surprise that the administration is pushing for a return to the “old days.”

    Many more families fled Hoboken than watched the parade during the old days!

    Take the survey and Say No to bar interests over OUR interests.

  3. The Hoboken Business Alliance is funded directly via the City Budget, to the tune of $3 million annually, double the amount for last year.

    So far the HBA has put a bunch of giant planters in the way of pedestrians on every corner of Washington Street. They also put up Christmas decorations.

    The HBA hires its own employees and is looking for new offices, administrative assistants, etc.

    The taxpayers of Hoboken should not have to fund this shell game of subverting services.

    The taxpayers of Hoboken don’t need to be told by a new hire who is not from Hoboken that we need or do not need a parade.

    If the reason to have this parade is to fix the mistake of a prior administration in forcing the cancelling of the parade, well, that is not a reason to go ahead and try to have an extra City funded office run a parade. The HBA is trying to justify its existence.

    We don’t need to help the bars and restaurants. They are doing fine.

    Let’s get rid of the street dining. COVID is over. We don’t need to feed the rats!

    I doubt most taxpayers in town would want to fund this parade or any other when they find out that they have to pay for it.

    Will other parades be paid for also, indirectly, by the City, in the name of helping bars and restaurants?

    Get rid of the HBA and save $3 million in City taxes.

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