St. Pat's parade moves

Annual event to take place in Henderson

Henderson seems to have the luck of the Irish on its side this year as the Las Vegas Sons of Erin decided to move its annual St. Patrick's Day parade to the city from downtown Las Vegas.

The 39th annual parade is set to make its way down Water Street, starting south of City Hall at 10 a.m. Saturday and ending at Timet Field, off Lake Mead Parkway and Water Street, with a day-long block party.

One of the largest St. Patrick's Day parades in the country, the event usually attracts between 35,000 to 40,000 spectators.

Mayor Jim Gibson will serve as grand marshal of the event, and Cathy Ray and Nate Tannenbaum of KTNV-TV, Channel 13, will serve as parade announcers.

Bud Pico, special events manager for the Henderson Convention and Visitors Bureau, was approached by the Sons of Erin organization last summer with the request to move the parade to Henderson.

Steve Morrissey, treasurer of the Las Vegas Sons of Erin, said the parade was becoming too expensive to hold in downtown Las Vegas, the location of choice for the last several years. He said with the added costs of police and barricades, the organization was losing about $2,000 a year.

The city of Henderson agreed to pick up the police and barricade costs, allowing the organization to focus on bringing in revenue for its charity work.