News Blog

A statement from Mayor Lovely Warren has been added to the bottom of this blog.

The city's St. Patrick's Day parade will follow a new route (see map) beginning this year because of the Inner Loop East project. The city is filling in the loop from Monroe Avenue to Charlotte Street. 

The parade, which has traditionally taken place on East Avenue, will start at Main and Franklin streets near the Liberty Pole, and proceed west down Main. It will either stop at Plymouth or continue down Exchange to Corn Hill Landing. The parade is in March. 

Several factors were considered in determining a new route, according to city spokesperson Chris Christopher, including access for emergency vehicles and available staging area. The city also wanted to limit disruption to buses, she says. 

The process of finding a new route was led by the Rochester Police Department and the city's Department of Environmental Services. 

STATEMENT FROM MAYOR LOVELY A. WARREN

"My office has received a number of concerns from business owners about the proposed new parade route released this week. In response to these concerns, the city will draft additional parade routes. Once we have come up with more options, we will present them to the community in an effort to select the best route possible."

"The existing parade route had to be changed to accommodate the upcoming Inner Loop construction. In drafting a new one, we needed to consider traffic patterns, paths for emergency vehicles, parking and leaving enough room for a staging area."

"Our parades are important to our downtown. They help breathe life into our downtown restaurants and businesses, and help us celebrate all the different cultures and traditions that make our city unique. This is something we value in Rochester, and it is important that our traditions continue in the heart of downtown despite our upcoming construction projects."

New Parade Route