On top of the annual St. Patrick’s Parade and late-afternoon Sister City Duck Race, Shawnee this year will roll out a new Irish-themed feature to add to its festivities this coming Sunday, March 12.
It’s called the “Shamrock O’Market,” styled after the spring and summer Moonlight Markets, city communications specialist Celia Searles told the Post.
The Shamrock O’Market will begin after the parade ends
- About 45 vendors will be selling local goods in the Shawnee City Hall parking lot.
- Searles said there will be some vendors participating that people might recognize from past Moonlight Markets, but there will be fewer shops than what’s usually offered during the third Thursdays event.
- There will also be some live music and Irish-themed performances.
- Food trucks are expected to be on site, plus some Shawnee breweries will be serving drinks.
- “We’ve had so much success with the Moonlight Market,” Searles said. “I think a lot of staff and other organizations have recognized that it’s a great way to pull people downtown.”
The goal is to keep people downtown for the full day
- After the parade in past years, there has been a bit of a lull before the annual Sister Cities Duck Race, which usually happens around 4:30 p.m.
- For the race, thousands of rubber ducks purchased for $5 beforehand are let go down a makeshift river set up in the parking lot at Herman Laird Park.
- The hope, Searles said, is to give people something to do between the parade and duck race.
- “It’s just fun to have a whole day of programming rather than two … events that are taking place at the opposite ends of the day,” she said. “I think people will be able to make a whole day out of it.”
The parade will run as usual
- The St. Patrick’s parade, put on each year by the Irish American Club of Johnson County, begins at 1 p.m. rain or shine, this Sunday.
- It will run through downtown Shawnee along Johnson Drive, beginning at Monrovia Street and concluding at Nieman Road.
- Parade participants will start lining up around 11:30 a.m.
- The theme this year is “Shawnee: Irish Shenanigans Start Here,” a nod to the city’s “Good Starts Here” tagline.
Remember last year? After 3-year hiatus, Shawnee brought back JoCo’s longest-running St. Pat’s Parade in 2022
