Hundreds of people took advantage of the beautiful sunshine on Saturday to attend the St. Patrick’s Day Parade along Central Avenue in Great Falls.
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The parade began at 1 p.m. and featured several citywide organizations and clubs.
Some parade participants tossed candy into the crowd, while others accepted food donations from spectators.
The parade is organized annually by the Great Falls chapter of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
The Hibernians use parade week as an opportunity to help the Great Falls Community Food Bank.
Shaun Tatarka, director of the food bank, said, “This is the second year the Hibernians have done this at the parade for us, and so we're just thrilled to do it. They had a really good turnout last year. We're hoping for even more this year. The idea is to start something like this and have it grow and grow and grow and, you know, before you know it, it’s a really major food-raiser for us.”
Montana and Irish-American history are closely woven together, with the state seeing a large influx of Irish immigrants in the later parts of the 19th century and into the 20th century.
