Oswego’s St. Patrick’s Day parade fails to make a comeback

OSWEGO, NY — Locals hoping to celebrate the Irish holiday next week will be left disappointed.

The City of Oswego celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in style last year with its inaugural parade on March 17th. Locals and students alike were looking forward to the new tradition until it was decided earlier in the month the parade would be cancelled for 2017. According to Heathe Jones; the Marketing Director at Cr8te Studios- the organization responsible for last year’s parade, necessary permits to hold the parade were not approved by the town in time for the parade to have necessary planning.

Despite being one of the first organizations to apply for an event permit this year, Jones said the town only heard back a mere two weeks ago, not giving nearly enough time to turn around as successful an event as last year’s program. Jones, as well as everyone else at Cr8te Studios is hopeful their application process will be smoother next year.

“I’m hopeful that these kind of procedures….this event application once it’s approved will make it a whole lot easier for organizations like ourselves to have it. Your expectations are right there. You know ahead of time what they’re going to require from you.” Jones said.

As far as improvement goes, hope is all Cr8te Studios and parade fans can do for now. When asked about the application process for parade permits, City Councillor Nate Emmons refused to comment. However, Jones assured that through the partnership of Create and a secret society called the Oswego Ancient Order of Hibernians, the parade will be back up and running next year.