HOLMES BEACH – The 20th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Anna Maria Island is set for Sunday, March 17 at 4 p.m. along Marina Drive.
The Beach Bistro Parade, an idea cooked up over 20 years ago by restaurateur Sean Murphy and journalist Vin Mannix, has become the biggest St. Patrick’s Day Parade south and east of Savannah, Georgia (It may also be the only St. Patrick’s Parade south and east of Savannah, Georgia).
The parade will proceed from Eat Here, near the corner of Marina Drive and Gulf Drive, and travel north along Marina Drive and Palm Drive, ending at 79th Street in Holmes Beach.
The parade will feature high school bands, bagpipes, the Privateers, the Conquistadors, floats, golf carts and lots of locals and visitors festooned in festive Irish green.
The parade will be led by World War II Veteran Bob Schweiger and Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth, who will be chauffeured by Steve Bark of Bark & Company Realty. Schweiger was in the second wave at Omaha Beach during the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day.
Those wishing to decorate a vehicle and participate in the parade should contact Sean at contact@beachbistro.com. Participants are to meet at the parking lot of Eat Here beginning at 2 p.m. to get assigned a spot in the parade.