St. Patrick’s Day meets social distancing: How people are celebrating amid the coronavirus outbreak
What does St. Patrick’s Day look like in the age of social distancing? Subdued — but not entirely unfestive. With the coronavirus outbreak and restrictions on social gatherings taking effect, event organizers around the world, from Dublin to Chicago, canceled their annual parades and parties. (Well, almost — in New York City, organizers of the city’s canceled parade bucked the trend by gathering anyway to “preserve our 259-year history.”)
Elsewhere, self-isolating and social-distancing folks have found creative ways to keep March 17 merry. Irish actor Chris O’Dowd of Bridesmaids and The IT Crowd fame shared videos from fans of their private celebrations, many of whom used the hashtag #HouseParade. Irish broadcaster RTé also encouraged viewers to stage “virtual parades.”
#HouseParade ?? https://t.co/9mBOm2fzoF
— chris o'dowd (@BigBoyler) March 17, 2020
Front of #HouseParade ?? https://t.co/OhlBnSc1x6
— chris o'dowd (@BigBoyler) March 17, 2020
Our family held a very busy #StPatricksDay parade today. Hope you like it. 😀#RTEVirtualParade pic.twitter.com/yyd7XbqMHl
— Fiona Kenny (@FionaKenny1) March 17, 2020
ICE-olation Parade on Croagh Patrick summit!
2019 #stayhomechallenge #StayAtHomeChallenge #StPatricksDay #StPatricksDay2020 #Ireland #RTEVirtualParade pic.twitter.com/fgc7WvXX5Y— Sui Mindfulness (@SuiMindfulness) March 17, 2020
Who said all the parades were cancelled?
This is brilliant.
A Lego St Patrick's Day parade.
The hard work of Darragh - boy in my daughter's class. Fair play. Top work. pic.twitter.com/qF6XicNThf— Justin McCarthy (@MrJustinMac) March 17, 2020
The festivities haven’t been limited to homes and driveways. In the town of Stradbally, Ireland, employees at the local Supervalu supermarket grabbed watermelons, Irish flags and, yes, toilet paper, for an in-store parade aiming to counteract the “doom and gloom.”
Others showed off their (safe) Irish step dancing skills.
My beautiful niece Isabella celebrating St. Patrick’s Day from home! Making the best of it???? #RTEVirtualParade #PaddysDay #VirtualParade @irishexaminer @rtenews @rte pic.twitter.com/sJHXXTVFSa
— Lydia Ferrari Kehoe (@LydiaFerrari1) March 17, 2020
My very responsible 65+ parents are social distancing and threw themselves their own St. Patrick’s Day parade 💕 pic.twitter.com/OCM69D8LPr
— Christina Cauterucci (@c_cauterucci) March 15, 2020
Meanwhile, Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys, famed for their rousing anthem “I’m Shipping Up to Boston,” opted to cancel their long-running St. Patrick’s Day gig in Boston in favor of a live-streamed concert in light of coronavirus concerns.
For the first time in 24 years, we're not playing on St. Patrick’s Day weekend. The current world situation is the ONLY thing that would ever stop us from doing so...
This Tuesday we're doing a DKM LIVESTREAM CONCERT to EVERYONE - ALL OVER THE WORLD!! https://t.co/6Mmfookm8n pic.twitter.com/UPT46d59Ov— Dropkick Murphys (@DropkickMurphys) March 15, 2020
For the latest news on the evolving coronavirus outbreak, follow along here. According to experts, people over 60 and those who are immunocompromised continue to be the most at risk. If you have questions, please reference the CDC and WHO’s resource guides.
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