Birmingham St Patrick’s Parade to return to Digbeth for 2024 with Páirc Festival

Irish eyes were smiling as the return of Birmingham’s St Patrick’s Parade to Digbeth in 2024 was announced at Páirc Festival.

It will be the first time in four years that the huge celebration of Irish music and culture - the third largest in the world - will take place back in its original venue on St Patrick’s Day, Sunday, March 17.

Last year saw a smaller version of the parade take place in Cannon Hill Park as the custodianship of the event was passed over to the Birmingham Irish Association (BIA).

The announcement of the return was made by BIA chair Pat O’Neil at Páirc Festival at the New Irish Centre in Kings Heath on Saturday, ahead of the much talked about surprise guest appearance of Ronnie Wood who performed with Van Morrison as more than 14,000 attended the two day event. The parade will be supported by Páirc Festival, which will launch its 2024 event on the day as well.

A statement about the return of the event was issued today (Monday, August 28) by Maurice Malone, coordinator of the Parade and CEO of Birmingham Irish Association who said: “The Birmingham St. Patrick’s Parade is a huge calendar event which holds a special place in the hearts of many.

“The Birmingham Irish Association look forward to relaunching the Parade, and are thrilled that it will fall on St Patrick’s Day itself. We will be releasing more information as we move closer to the event which will be shared via social media and our website, and hope to see you all to celebrate with us next year.”

Irish musician Nathan Carter also announced the return of the parade during his performance at Páirc Festival on Sunday. This year Páirc supported two charities, following an anonymous donation from a local Birmingham Irish businessman, who passed over the opportunity to two deserving charities, Betel UK and the Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity, who joined on the day to fundraise and raise awareness.

Betel UK is an independent charity, supporting individuals facing addiction and homelessness. Betel UK had raised funds through donations and a wide range of non-profit businesses. The Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity supports 90,000 sick children, from across the UK, every year. The charity has been raising money for the iMRI Appeal, supporting the life-saving and transformative treatments to patients with a brain tumour or epilepsy.