GIRARDVILLE, Pa. — The sounds of tradition fill the streets of Girardville as it does every St Patrick's Day season.
But this year, the streets will remain empty.
Organizers of Girardville's St. Patrick's Day Parade posted on their website that due to unforeseen circumstances, there will not be a parade this year.
"I'm going to start crying because we loved it, and we had a lot of people worked very hard for it," said Maureen Manbeck from Girardville.
"Nothing is coming our way. It's all leaving us. All the good things are coming to an end," said Claire from Girardville.
A display of Irish history for this Schuylkill County town. It's proudly on display on every corner, including the Hibernian house.
Joe Wayne is the man behind the bar and the parade.
"The more we progressed, the more we said, ' Hey, this is doable. ' Never thinking we'd get the response we did."
Wayne has made sure this tradition stayed strong for decades, Holding a long history.
One where a president walked the parade route and 30 thousand people lined the path.
"The president couldn't even get to us. He was surrounded by that many people. Bill Clinton, he was great. He shook hands with everyone and kissed a few babies too," said Wayne.
He says canceling this year's parade wasn't an easy decision, but one he had to make due to some paperwork issues and financial backing.
"I talked to the other members, and we decided it's going to be tough, especially without having a major fundraiser; because of that, we decided to take a break and do it properly," added Wayne.
He hopes it won't stay that way for long. He says he's already planning next year's parade.
"We already contacted the bands, and they're already signed up for next year."
And he has the entire community of Girardville behind him, hoping to make it happen.
"There's good people here in Girardville, very good people. and we all help each other out," Wayne stated.
Plenty of other communities are hosting Saint Patrick's parades this year. Pottsville will have its Saint Patrick's parade on Saturday, March 16th, in Luzerne County.
Wilkes-Barre will showcase its Irish pride with its parade on Sunday, March 10th, and one of the biggest Saint Patrick's celebrations in the country returns to Scranton on Saturday, March 9th.
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