Members of the Irish American Heritage Society are planning to paint the town green for the first time since 2019
The annual St. Patrick’s Day parade will be back in full force, according to Charlie Walker, society president, who said group members are excited to have events back on track.
“We hated we weren’t able to do this,” he said.
While the parade is set to begin at 2 p.m. Thursday, the festivities and observances related to the holiday begin much earlier for those in Augusta’s Irish community.
On Feb. 12, the society named its St. Patrick’s Day dignitaries at its ball at the Augusta Marriott at the Convention Center. They include J. Douglas “Doug” Herman Sr. as grand marshal, Beth Real Cibak as the Irish Lady and Sean and Kristi Burke’s family as Irish Family of the Year.
On Monday, members of the Augusta Ancient Order of Hibernians who are also part of the Irish American Heritage Society placed a wreath on the memorial to Dennis Cahill near the Butt Memorial Bridge as part of events leading up to St. Patrick’s Day, according to society member Russ Gambill.
Cahill, an immigrant from County Cork Ireland, drowned after jumping in the canal to save the life of a 9 -year-old girl who’d fallen into the water, he wrote in an email.
Even of St. Patrick’s Day itself, the parade is only one part of a full schedule.
It begins with a breakfast for current and former dignitaries, followed by attendance at the 12:15 p.m. mass at the Church of the Most Holy Trinity, which was once known as St. Patrick’s, and is still referred to it by some in the community.
Then the parade starts at 2 p.m. from the James Brown Arena parking lot.
It travels down Telfair to 11th Street before it crosses over to Broad, then turns on Sixth Street before ending back at the arena parking lot, according to Tyler Snead, parade chairman.
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About 65 entries are expected for this year’s parade. Among them will include state basketball champions Westside High School and Cross Creek High School, several high school marching bands, elected officials and the Irish dignitaries.
Also in this year’s parade will be Doug Wilson, who was named grand marshal in 2020, and Kim White, who was the 2020 Irish Lady of the Year. Neither had the chance to be in the parade.
After the parade, the Irish contingent will head toward another celebration while the rest of Augusta head to festivities at the Augusta Common from 4 to 10 p.m. with live entertainment, a Kids Fun Zone, along with food, drink and merchandise vendors. Entertainers for the festival include Jaycee Ward, Joshua Pierce, Shine Box and Midnight Moon.
“We are ready to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at the Common,” said Augusta’s Parks and Recreation Director Maurice McDowell in a news release. “In the last two years, many events had to be cancelled due to the pandemic, and now we are excited to offer folks more fun and family-oriented activities in Downtown Augusta again.”
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Herman said Augusta’s first parade dates back more than 200 years.
“The first celebration with a parade was in 1801,” said Herman, who has written a book “Augusta GA Irish History 1750 to 2022.”
Over the years, it died off with many from the Irish community heading to Savannah to celebrate.
That changed in the 1970s.
“People here felt we needed something here for us instead of trucking to Savannah,” he said.
A group of women started attending mass at Church of the Most Holy Trinity and walking to the Town Tavern for lunch.
That sparked the idea.
In January 1978, plans were made to have a parade after mass, then have lunch. The first group also planned to have prizes for the best Irish costume, Irish jig and essay about what being Irish means. Members also wanted to help a needy Irish American family, he wrote in his book.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the managing editor of The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
