Please join the KCDP in the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade on Friday, March 17. The parade will line up in front of the Coliseum on Howard Baker and step off at 7:00 pm. The parade will go down Gay Street and end at Gay and West Magnolia Avenue where we will walk over to the KCDP headquarters. We love to show our strength with a good show of walkers and train passengers dressed in their finest green.  

See photos from the parade click here

Our float has a local theme, embodying the parade's stated purpose of "acknowledge the role Irish immigrants and their families played in Knoxville's history."  Thus, the KCDP float commemorates the Irish immigrants who built the first railroad to Knoxville, the East Tennessee and Georgia, in 1855. That is the origin story of the Irish community in Knoxville -- they were the laborers who built the railroad here and established an ethnic minority community in this city. The scale model train on the float evokes the locomotives of that 1855 era, but also has some nods to the later 19th century when many Irish Americans in Knoxville had gained responsible roles on the railroads, such as engineers. The float features a historic train whistle that was owned by Mike O'Connor, a Knoxville engineer who was known for playing musical tunes on the whistle. To further emphasize the local aspect of our theme, we have costumed railroad workers lead our float and we carry 19th-century photographs of early Irish residents, mayors, and aldermen of Knoxville.  We encourage participants to carry pictures of their own ancestors as this personalizes and adds interest to the parade and communicates effectively with people viewing the parade.

For those that would like to join us in representing KCDP, here are some guidelines:

1. Dress warmly in your favorite green. This is a rain or shine parade, so come prepared.

2. If you would like a ride over to the parade line up, meet at KCDP headquarters at 311 Morgan Street between 5:00 – 6:00 pm. We will ferry groups over until 6:00 pm.

3. If you need to ride as a passenger, please let us know in advance so we can make sure we’ve reserved a seat for you as seating is limited.

4. Everyone must sign a City of Knoxville parade waiver to be submitted at the parade site. We will have these on hand at the lineup.

5. We ask that you do not bring your pets due to liability concerns. 

 Let us know that you can join us by RSVP’ing at treasurer@knoxvilledemocrats.org