Residents line Mentor Avenue for Painesville Township’s St. Patricks’ Day Parade
Mar 16, 2025
People lined up on Mentor Avenue on the afternoon of March 16 to watch the Painesville Township St. Patrick’s Day Parade this year.
The parade kicked off at the entrance of the Lake County Fairgrounds, 1301 Mentor Ave., at 3 p.m. and proceeded to head west, concluding at Hellriegel’s Inn, 1840 M
entor Ave.
According to Painesville Township Administrator Hollie Bartone, the township has been hosting the parade for the last decade.
“It started off with a couple of local residents who put it together one year and it’s just kind of gone from there,” she said. “It got to the point where it was so big that the township now hosts it.”
The parade is the only Lake County St. Patrick’s Day parade and is something the township enjoys putting on for the community, Bartone said.
“It’s something that we make sure that we try to put on as many years as possible,” she said. “You’ll see how many people line up on the road. It’s something that the residents really enjoy.”
This year's Painesville Township St. Patrick's Day Parade had roughy 40 groups participate in the parade on March 16. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)People lined up on Mentor Avenue on Sunday afternoon to watch the Painesville Township St. Patrick's Day Parade this year. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)This year's Painesville Township St. Patrick's Day Parade had roughy 40 groups participate in the parade on March 16. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)People lined up on Mentor Avenue on Sunday afternoon to watch the Painesville Township St. Patrick's Day Parade this year. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)This year's Painesville Township St. Patrick's Day Parade had roughy 40 groups participate in the parade on March 16. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)This year's Painesville Township St. Patrick's Day Parade had roughy 40 groups participate in the parade on March 16. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)This year's Painesville Township St. Patrick's Day Parade had roughy 40 groups participate in the parade on March 16. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)People lined up on Mentor Avenue on Sunday afternoon to watch the Painesville Township St. Patrick's Day Parade this year. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)Show Caption1 of 8This year's Painesville Township St. Patrick's Day Parade had roughy 40 groups participate in the parade on March 16. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)Expand
Roughly 2,000 people watch the parade annually, Bartone said, as they line up from the fairgrounds all the way to Hellriegel’s.
“It’s pretty nonstop from here to there,” she said.
This year, 40 groups individually signed up to participate in the parade, one of the higher numbers the township has had, Bartone said.
“We have a couple of baton twirling groups, we hired a stilt walker for entertainment and the township now owns a foam cannon for our other events, so we’re going to be shooting off green foam at the end of the parade as kind of the finale,” she said. “Of course, lots of Irish music and the Celtic band is going to be here to perform.”
The township intends to keep hosting the parade going forward.
“These things are made possible from our local businesses who donate or cash donations in order to hire the entertainment we’re able to get,” Bartone said. “If it weren’t for those businesses, we wouldn’t be able to do things like this. We’re grateful for the support for events we like to put on for the residents.”
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