QC St. Patrick's Day Parade Will Not Be Held Saturday

The 35th Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade scheduled for Saturday will not be held as scheduled, according to the QC Times.

According to a news release from the St. Patrick's Society, the Grand Parade and other events will not be held this weekend as planned.

The decision, at the request of the Rock Island County Board of Health, comes as events across the country are canceled or rescheduled because of concerns about the COVID-19 coronavirus, which was declared a pandemic Wednesday by the World Health Organization.

According to the news release, Joe Dooley who is president of the St. Patrick's Society says,

"We pledged that should we hear from experts that the Parade should not be held, we would follow that recommendation," the St. Patrick's Society release reads. "We did indeed this evening receive the recommendation from a County Health administrator that the Parade be cancelled.

"We will therefore follow that request and stop all plans regarding the Grand Parade and other St. Patrick Society events planned for this week-end such as the Gathering of the Clans Luncheon and the Bash.

"Our Grand Parade and the events that accompany it are labors of love for our community. We cannot continue with them now that we learn that holding those events at this time may in fact harm our community.

"We have yet to decide whether or not we are postponing the Grand Parade or whether we are cancelling it."