St Patrick's Day in Meath... Routes, locations, times of all this year's parades and parties

Routes times and locations for the St Patrick’s Day Festivities

It's all happening this weekend with parades and festivities taking place all across the county. Here's the times, routes and locations for this year's St Patrick's Day parades.

The Navan Shamrock Festival and Parade returns for the time in four years with the parade starting at the Enterprise Centre at 2pm.

The parade will follow the usual route from the Trim Road, to Railway Street, Canon Row, Kennedy Road and Market Square.

With the extensive roadworks continuing in the town, the music and stalls that are usually in Kennedy Place have been relocated to Trimgate Street and there will be free entertainment for children in the Community Centre on Trimgate Street from 12.30 to 4pm. This will include a puppet show, face-painting and balloon modelling.

Trim sees the return of its parade to the town for the first time since 2019. The day's festivities will get underway at 1.30pm with the return of the very popular Daft Raft Race on the Boyne organised by James Murray of Boyne Valley Activities.

The parade itself will set off at 3.30pm from the Ring Road and will celebrate Trim's triumph in the National Tidy Towns competition. The route continues up Patrick Street, onto Emmet Street, Market Street and finishing at Castle Street.

Chief Organiser Jimmy Ryan said: “Don’t be scared to dress up on the day, wear as much green outfits, hats, flags, costumes as you like, the more the better. We are also looking for more people to join our committee or if you can just appear on the day, as we will be needing stewards to help us. We have a very hard-working committee and we are grateful for all the work they have put in to get this event back this year.”

Before the parade, come along to enjoy the music and dance of Comhaltas Trim, Trim Brass Band and the Carney School of Dancing.

That night Scurlogstown Olympiad will host a céilí in the Diocesan Hall, Loman Street.

The Slane St Patrick's parade promises to be a very colourful affair with street entertainment, cartoon characters and the famous Transformer's Bumblebee.

It starts at 3pm at St Patrick's National School and continues down through the town to the Navan Road.

There are 35 local entries, as well as many cartoon characters such as Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Winnie the Pooh.

Willie Wonka and his Oompa Loompas will be there, giving out bags of sweets, and five of those bags will contain a Golden Ticket, which can be used to claim a prize from Willie Wonka who will be in Mimnagh's shop.

There will be a marquee opposite the hotel where there will be free popcorn and candyfloss for the children and the village will be decorated with balloons.

Music at the square will be by The Wednesday Gang and doves will be released in memory of parishioners who have died.

Tom Kerrigan and Peadar Farrelly will be MCs for the day.

Paula Faulkner of the organising committee says the Francis Ledwidge Garden will play host to the Transformers Bumblebee which is already creating a lot of excitement in Slane.

Excitement is building in Ballivor as the village gears up to host its first St Patrick's Day parade in decades. The parade will set off at 12.30pm and is being led by Trim Brass Band.

"We are delighted to announce that there will be a parade in Ballivor on St Patrick's Day this year. The committee can't wait and are full of excitement as there hasn’t been a parade in decades. We are busy fundraising for the big day and the excitement in the village is fantastic. We have a great variety of entrants to keep the young and old entertained with the Trim Brass Band kicking off the celebrations in style," the committee said.

"We hope that every year our parade will grow bigger and better for our wonderful village," the committee said.

Meanwhile, in Ratoath, while there will not be a parade on St Patrick's Day, there will be a colourful and exciting festival which is expected to attract large crowds to the village.

There will be music in the streets from 12 to 5pm as well as stalls with goods from local producers and entrepreneurs, children's amusement and a large number of different bands providing music.

"It will be a fun and colourful day and we hope it will attract people from all over the county," says Cllr Nick Killian.

The theme for this year's Athboy Saint Patrick's Day Parade which takes place at 12.30pm, is "Our Culture-You're Culture".

"After the success of last year's parade, which was one of only a couple in the county, we are delighted to welcome everyone back to showcase all of the wonderful groups and people we have in our community. The theme for this years parade is "Our Culture - Your Culture" and we are looking forward to seeing how our local groups, clubs and businesses can creatively demonstrate their culture," said PRO Christine Brown.

The parade will follow its typical route from the Fair Green to the Convent Community Centre. The committee is delighted to confirm that Navan Foresters band, K and S accordion band and the Navan Silver Band are confirmed for the parade. New volunteers are always welcome and can message the Facebook page or approach a member of the committee for more information.

Enfield’s parade will set off from the GAA grounds at 3pm and is always a great community day out with plenty of colour.

There are great prizes for the best floats and walking groups among other prizes with the presentation taking place after the parade in the Bridge House Hotel.

Oldcastle parade is the first St Patrick’s Day Parade of the day and takes place at 12noon starting as always from the Show Hall. It will follow the usual route up through the town and back via Cavan Street to finish up at the Showgrounds.

MC for this year's St Patrick's Day events in Ashbourne is comedian Rory O'Connor of Rory's Stories. There will be acts on the Main Stage throughout the day and the parade itself starts at 12.30pm at the Lidl Car Park and continues on to Declan Street, Fredericks Street, Broadmeadow Street and Killegland Street.

The parade will be led by local boy Kyle Fitzgerald, of Kyle's Wish to Walk, who was due to lead the parade in 2020 before it was cancelled and is delighted to be able to do it this year. The them of the parade is 'Love and Peace'. Cllr Alan Tobin said there will be commercial floats and community groups and anyone who would like to get involved or enter a float can contact Ashbourne Chamber of Commerce via the website or by emailing info@ashbournechamber.ie.

In Kingscourt, the parade will kick off as always from the Dublin Road at 1pm, and make its way down the town. The viewing stand will be at the Market Square. While the local St Mary's Brass and Reed Band will be in New York this year, other bands have been booked to entertain the crowds. There will be plenty of local community groups, organisations and businesses taking party ensuring plenty of entertainment and colour.

Kells is also gearing up to host a parade with 'Colour' being the theme for this year's parade, which is at 3pm. Local councillor Sean Drew says the committee had been hard at work for the last few weeks getting preparations together for the event. "We are delighted to be hosting a parade for young and old to enjoy this year to be able to celebrate local clubs and businesses."

Ardee's parade will start at 3pm from the Fair Green before making its way through the heart of the town. This year the Grand Marshall will be Rose McClusker representing Ardee & District Cancer Support. The group was set up in 2018 to support people in the local and surrounding areas who have cancer and other illnesses.

The parade will include St Joseph's Pipe Band, Ardee Concert Band, Scoraíocht Lann Léire as well as lots of local schools, clubs and organisations, vintage vehicles, tractors and more.

There will be live entertainment on our bandstand from 2pm featuring Irish trad group Scoraíocht Lann Léire and Sean Jones as well as music and chats from MC Sean Jennings. The parade is also being live streamed on the day by Joe Finnegan and will be available to watch via his you tube channel YouTube.com/joefinnegan

Kilcock is also gearing up for the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which takes place at 1.30pm. It begins up at Spin Bridge and travels down past Abbeyfield, past St. Cocoas Church and onto the viewing stand which is located in the square.

Local businesses, community and voluntary groups and local schools all come together to provide music, fun, and entertainment along the route. The organising committee is appealing to local businesses and anyone who wishes to contribute to help with the costs of putting on the parade to get in touch.

Anyone wishing to participate in the parade itself, it is an opportunity to promote your business/organisation and let everyone in Kilcock be “aware you’re there”. There are prizes available in different categories. The theme this year is “Mná Na hÉireann/Women of Ireland”.

If you would like to get involved in helping in any way, would like to donate, sponsor the parade or would like to enter, email Kilcockpaddysday@gmail.com, see Kilcock St Patrick's Day Parade on Facebook or message through Messenger.

This year, a parade will not go ahead in Dunboyne. Writing on its Facebook Page, St Patrick's Festival Dunboyne said the parade would not go ahead due to a lack of volunteers from the community despite appeals for help over the years and that the committee is overstretched and under resourced to deliver a safe parade on the day.