Luck of the Irish runs out in Wichita: St. Patrick’s Day parade canceled again
Organizers of the Delano St. Patrick’s Day Parade have canceled this year’s event because of continuing concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s the third year in a row the popular parade has been put on hold, said parade organizer Cameron Lawrence of the Historic Delano Association.
The event, originally organized by Lawrence’s grandmother Nancy, was a cornerstone of the Wichita’s St. Patrick’s Day observance.
It drew thousands of green-clad revelers to Delano to drink green-tinted beer and Guinness Stout, celebrating Irish culture and the legendary cleric and missionary traditionally credited with driving the snakes out of Ireland.
But the 2020 parade was canceled at the last minute after Sedgwick County limited attendance at mass events to 250 people in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
With COVID still a concern, the parade skipped 2021 and now 2022, Lawrence said.
“Even for an outdoor event, the divisive views on what we should and shouldn’t do each day are a cause for concern,” Lawrence said in a written announcement of the parade cancellation.
On Wednesday, Dr. Garold Minns, Sedgwick County’s health officer, told county commissioners that the Wichita area is in the worst shape since the pandemic began, with new coronavirus variants emerging, serious cases rising and hospitals maxed out.
The parade is usually held the second Saturday of March and would have been March 12 this year, Lawrence said.
But planning, recruiting sponsors and funding the parade take months of planning, Lawrence said.
“There’s a lot of things to pay for for it, which costs a lot of money,” he said. “We want a good turnout as well so that people can enjoy it. We also don’t want to cause any concern with throwing a large event, so with all those things mixed in, it just doesn’t really give much assurance that there’s going to be a big turnout, that many people are going to want to participate or will sponsor it.
“In the end, we could basically have put on a parade that we pay for everything up front and then we’re negative at the end.”
Organizers are hopeful the parade will be able to make a comeback in 2023, Lawrence said.
This story was originally published January 6, 2022 at 1:32 PM.
