Annual Delano St. Patrick’s Parade expected to be biggest ever

Editor’s note: The parade has been canceled. On Friday morning, Sedgwick County banned all gatherings of 250 or more people as a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus.

When Nancy Lawrence was organizing the Historic Delano district’s first St. Patrick’s Day parade 14 years ago, one of her first entrants was a group of Shriners.

“I thought, ‘if I’ve got Shriners, I’ve got a parade,’” Lawrence said.

Making it even more legitimate, a local Irish family calling themselves the Tipperary Hogans joined the parade. This Saturday, March 14, The Tipperary Hogans are planning to make their 30th appearance in a Wichita parade honoring the patron saint of Ireland. The parade starts at noon and takes about a half-mile route on Douglas from McLean to Walnut in Historic Delano.

About 20 descendants of Marion and Peggy Hogan — dressed as leprechauns, Irish monks, Irish dancers and of course, St. Patrick the bishop — will be among the record 134 parade entries that include a high school marching band, a kazoo band, dancers, Irish pipers, vintage cars and a pink firetruck this year.

While many cities have canceled their parades, as of noon Thursday Wichita’s parade was still on. Any changes will be announced on the group’s website, delanostpatparade.com

Honoring mom and dad

Marion Hogan was a first-generation Irish American whose parents had immigrated to Kansas in 1870 from County Tipperary in Ireland, said Theresa Hogan, one of Marion and Peggy’s nine children who organizes the family’s participation in the local St. Patrick’s Day parade.

Their first appearance was in 1987, a last-minute family activity they decided to do since their patriarch had talked about participating for some time.

Theresa Hogan remembers it was a rainy day that year, but it stopped raining in time for the parade. It’s never rained on their parade since.

“St. Patrick has taken care of us because it’s never rained during the actual parade,” Theresa said.

Marion died of a heart attack later in 1987. The family continued their parade appearances, with Peggy sewing most of the costumes the family still wears. Some family members went on to learn Irish dancing. When the earlier version of Wichita’s St. Patrick’s Day parade discontinued, the family kept up their dancing skills at local senior communities until the Historic Delano district restarted the parade 14 years ago. Peggy participated in the parade until her death in late 2010.

The family continues to be in the parade “to celebrate our Irish history and honor my mom and dad,” said Theresa Hogan.

Parade parking concerns

While the Shriners and Hogans are longtime staples of the Delano parade, there are some new things parade organizers are dealing with this year, Lawrence said. One is the record number of participants at 134, which is 20 more than last year’s numbers.

Others are parking and area street closures due to construction. The parade route remains unaffected by the closures, but the McLean closure impacts parade staging.

“This is really the first test to see where to park for events now that the new stadium has gone in,” said Lawrence. As many as 10,000 spectators attend, she said.

In correspondence with participants, she’s written, “They say there are 9,000 parking spots in the Downtown, Old Town, (Douglas) Design District and Delano areas for us to use for these events. Let’s find them and put them to use.”

An interactive parking map at downtownwichita.org/get-around/parking shows several parking lots on the east side of the Arkansas River. Lawrence suggests parking on the east side of the river and walking across the bridge on Douglas. The parade starts at the intersection of Douglas and McLean, which is immediately on the west side of the river.

This year, organizers are asking that no one park in the 150 or so spaces on the parade’s route between McLean and Walnut on Douglas from 6 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Saturday. Crowds tend to squeeze onto the streets between the vehicles, making it less safe for both spectators and participants, some of whom have moving vehicles in the parade, Lawrence said.

The free Q Line trolley will run a detoured route from 7:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. on parade day: when going westbound it will turn left on Topeka, right on Waterman/Maple, west to Seneca to Second, left on Second to Topeka, right on Topeka back to Douglas, Lawrence told parade participants.

All-ages activities

For parade spectators and others who want to continue St. Patrick’s Day festivities in Delano, there are two family-friendly events, Lawrence said.

A 2 p.m. Irish celebration concert featuring the Delano Chamber Players is a new event being staged this year at West Side Baptist Church, 304 S. Seneca St.; the concert is free, but $10 donations are encouraged. New Covenant Church, 1710 W. Douglas, will have free hotdogs, cookies, green lemonade, carnival games and more during its parade party from 12:45-3 p.m.

14th annual St. Patrick’s Day parade in Delano

Where: parade route is along Douglas from McLean to Walnut in the Historic Delano neighborhood

When: Noon Saturday, March 14

Cost: Free

More information: facebook.com/delanostpatparade or delanostpatparade.com

This story was originally published March 13, 2020 at 5:01 AM.