By: Denise Foley

The new parade  route was unveiled on February 12. You can see it at left.

Make a note of this: If you’re thinking of marching down Broad Street in Philadelphia, it’ll cost you $110,000.

At least, that’s the figure city officials quoted to St. Patrick’s Day Parade Director Michael Bradley this week. Not only does the parade association not have that $110,000, it doesn’t even have the extra $40,000 the city asked for to cover costs for police, barricades, and post-parade cleanup. Over the year, the parade committee normally raises $60,000 to $70,000 to cover parade costs.

Traditionally, the city has absorbed those safety and sanitation expenses. With a $1 billion deficit over five years, it is now billing the parade group as it did the Mummers in January. A group of local businesses and organizations, including the Delaware Valley Regional Economic Development Fund, Joe Vento of Geno’s Steaks, Forman Mills, and Verizon, anteed up the extra $230,000 that allowed that parade to go on, after dire warnings that after 108 years, there would be no strutting down Broad Street.

Bradley and members of the St, Patrick’s Day Observance Association met on Thursday night, February 12, with parade participants to bring them up to date on the negotiations with the city and to unveil a new parade route which will cut the need for the extra $110,000 in city services. “They came up with this ridiculous number of $110,000 they want us to pay. I said as soon as you got past that first comma, you might as well forget it, we’re not going to do it,” Bradley told the crowd.

City officials suggested that the parade committee charge more to participants  who now pay as much as $230 in application fees, plus the cost of badges (between $1.50 and $15 per person) and, for many groups, transportation. Many St. Patrick’s Day parade marchers—including local dance schools, pipe bands, high school Irish clubs and county associations--hold annual fundraisers to cover their costs. “We’re not going to ask you in 30 days to raise more money, that’s not fair,” Bradley told the group. “It wasn’t fair to us.”

So, instead of meandering down Broad Street and circling City Hall, the new parade route will take marchers down JFK Boulevard at 16th Street to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The parade could start farther down JFK, but Bradley said the combination of construction and a bridge made it a safety concern. The reviewing stands, which are normally at 20th Street, will now be set up about four blocks further at  Eakins Oval, in front of the Philadelphia Art Museum. The new route will soon be up on the parade website.

Unlike the Mummers, Bradley isn’t threatening to pull the plug on the parade, which has been held in the city since 1771. “You know, if they tell us, ‘Don’t do it,’ we’re going to do it anyway,” he said. The parade is scheduled for Sunday, March 15, starting at 11 AM.

At least two fundraisers are planned to raise the extra $40,000. The first, on March 1, will be held at Finnigan’s Wake at 537 N. Third Street from 3-7 PM and will feature local group, Paddy’s Well. The second, featuring Blackthorn, is scheduled for March 8 at Springfield Country Club, 400 W. Sproul Road, in Springfield, Delaware County, starting at 4 PM. Others may be in the works.

Bradley said he understood why the city’s budget woes would require some cost-cutting. “We need to contribute, we’re going to contribute something, and we ‘re going to help Mayor Nutter,” he said. “We have a great relationship with him. Some of the things he’s doing are very difficult. He’s in a difficult position and I admire him.”

But lost in the discussions, he said, are an acknowledgement that the parade also brings revenue into the city and the region in the form of sales tax on just about everything revelers buy, from a bowl of Irish stew at Tir na nOg to a pint of beer at Fado to post-parade parties all over the area. “Its not a city of Philadelphia but a tri-state event, and in the tri-state area, 30% of the 6 million people are Irish or of Irish heritage,” said Bradley.

 In this video, Bradley explains the new parade route.