First Ward Parade vs. Downtown Parade - St. Patrick's Day // By: Siclari

Both have their pros and cons - I choose First Ward (its because I am old)

Here we go again. Another year, another St. Patrick’s Day in Buffalo. The day everyone is Irish. Everyone wearing green, girls putting Four Leaf clovers on their cheeks.  Hundreds of 10 second Snap Chat videos. Before I dive into St. Patrick’s Day can I tell you one of the worst things ever? Snap Chats of concert, Parades, the shout song, really anything at a live event. Its annoying.  No one needs a selfie of you singing the shout song, scanning the crowd, we have all been there. No one needs a snap chat of a concert, we can’t see or hear anything on the video anyways, and no one needs a snap chat of a parade. manly because parades are dumb.

               

             OK, back to St. Patrick’s Day. Saturday you have Frist Ward/South Buffalo Parade and on Sunday you have the Downtown Parade. Two awesome parades, (let me say again when I say “Parades” I’m talking about the atmosphere around the parade not the actual stupid thing that is happening in the street) what one do you go to? I have been to both multiple times and the decision comes down to how old you’re. The younger you’re the more likely you’re to go to the Downtown Parade. The older you get, like snowbirds, you migrate south to the First Ward Parade.

                

           

  Downtown Parade. Under age kids acting like idiots, smells bad, crowds, piss, puke, nowhere to go to the bathroom, stepping on beer cans and red solo cups everywhere you go. If you’re into that type of thing downtown parade is your place for this weekend. Since I moved away from Allen street I haven’t been to the downtown parade recently, but last year I had a group of friends going so I said, “what the hell”. It was fun, anywhere you go with all your friends tends to be fun, besides Boston, that place sucks. The main reason I enjoyed myself was my friend has an apt close by where a bathroom was readily accessible. The day was going great, well besides everything I mentioned above, until I made the dumb decision to meet friends at Colter Bay. I never made it to Colter Bay. As I am walking north on Delaware I tried to walk past the Tim Hortons 2 buildings away from Colter Bay. It was a mob scene. The average age of these kids was 16-17, maybe some 18yr olds. Shoulder to shoulder and just pushing each other and holding their phones in the air snap chatting whatever the hell was going on. I turned around and went back to my friends. If you end up going on Sunday, take my advice, stay away from Chippewa and the Tim Hortons on Delaware.

                

           

    Frist Ward Parade. Older crowd, parade goes down different streets, still nowhere to go to the bathroom, less people. The best thing about this parade is it’s on a Saturday. Gene McCarthy’s is the only place I have been and stood by, so I cannot speak to the rest of the area. There is a lot of space to stand and set your cooler down. There is a hole in the wall bar “Cooks” behind Gene McCarthy’s that I venture to. Cheap drinks and a bathroom can’t ask for more than that. I stand around, talk to some friends, drink some beers, then we head away from the Parade and go to a South Buffalo Bar.

               

                 If you’re single go to the Downtown Parade. If you like crowds and people bumping into, go to the downtown parade.

                If you’re married or in a relationship, go to Frist Ward parade. If you hate crowds and just want to get drunk, go to the First Ward Parade.  

Also, Parades suck.