Shamrocks and canolis

Tri-City area residents will not have to travel far again this year to attend an Irish-Italian parade.

For the second year in a row, the Irish Italian Walking Parade will be held Saturday in Morgan City.

The parade will begin at 11 a.m., followed by a block party ending around 4 p.m.

“Last year was our very first one,” Irish Italian parade organizer Walter Shepherd said. “It went off quite well, far better than expected.

“This year we’re hoping for a bigger turnout both in participants and people watching the parade.”

Most residents travel to New Orleans and surrounding areas to attend Irish-Italian parades.

With a large population of Irish and Italians in the Tri-City area, Shepherd and members of the Krewe of Dionysus saw a need to fill in their own community.

Because many of the participants are Dionysus members, much of the legwork was already done.

“We had parade permits … and insurance. We’d figured it would be easy to get that started,” Shepherd said. “So, we did.

“And it’s worked out quite well for us here. That’s why we’re trying to get this going for the second year and see how well it works.”

Parade organizers wanted to keep all parade involvement local and community oriented.

“We wanted to keep it in a nice part of Morgan City, so Second Street was the easy way to go,” Shepherd said.

At the time, Cafe JoJo’s was the only restaurant used to having Rhythms on the River, a block party set up.

“We figured it to be the best place to have it.”

The parade starts at Second and Onstead streets. It’s a block away from AJ’s 2nd Street Pub, which will be serving green beer.

The parade route moves down Second, turns right on Everett Street, and then right on Front Street, ending at Café JoJo’s .

The block party at Café JoJo’s is open to anyone. Café JoJo’s will be selling food. Music will be provided by J.J . Starbucks during the parade and block party.

This is unlike the Mardi Gras parade, where you have floats and vehicles. Participants will be on golf carts or walking. No four-wheelers or cars are permitted.

Golf carts can be decorated in an Irish or Italian theme. Walkers will have to carry beads or ice chests in a wagon.

“Or in my case, since my wife is Italian and I’m Irish, we’ve got a cart that’s divided,” Shepherd said

The fee to participate in the parade is $20 per person. Deadline is Thursday.

“We had a lot of Irish participants last year. We’re hoping to get more Italians this year,” Shepherd said.

The grand marshal of the parade is Morgan City Councilman Lou Tamporello .

“It’s not one of the serious events,” Shepherd said. “It’s one of the fun events. We try to make it as fun and community oriented as possible.”

Shepherd wants the Tri-City area community to come out for enjoyment. The participants will be handing out flowers, beads, candy, instead of throwing them off a float.

“So, the parade is actually more personable than someone throwing items out at people,” Shepherd said. “It’s one on one. You’re right there with the people instead of it falling off from a float.”