The South Boston Saint Patrick’s Day is a lot of different things to many people. For locals, it’s a holiday with all the festivity and headaches that might entail. For newcomers, aka yuppies, it’s an opportunity to show off an expensive condo as prime real estate for a light parade watch party. For many more, it’s the perfect place to day drink in someone else’s neighborhood.

Sean Carter and Jason Garcia came in from Providence and West Bridgewater. “I have been coming here since I was a sophomore,” said Carter. “It is always a good time to come here and spend time with everybody else.”

“I work around here, so I know the area pretty well,” added Garcia. “I love the people, and I love the area. The people around here are just so humble and amazing to be around.”

“We have work tomorrow, but we have the weekend,” he said before rejoining the crowd.

Karen Olivera greeted all who passed by with a warm “Happy St. Patrick’s Day.”

“I love to see the community. I am actually Italian but everyone’s a little Irish on St. Patrick’s Day,” she said.

Officers from police and fire departments nationwide came out to support local emergency services during the parade. Rudy Morefield, a Firefighter/Paramedic from the Los Angeles Fire Department, traveled with his co-workers to enjoy the festivities and “show some love” to Boston. The group was all smiles and quick to pose for a photo with parade-goers. 

Mary Whelan and Jackie Tierney share a small apartment off N Street. Whelan grew up near Old Colony in a house that has long since turned into condos. Though happy to be back in for the parade, she was annoyed by transplants using it as an opportunity to black out. 

“The craziness and the parties are very different from what I remember,” She said. “It’s seen as a place to come and party instead of people’s homes.”

Tierney was just glad her garage door went urine-free the whole parade.

Kayla Feltch also grew up in Southie and was posted up by the library to watch the parade. She had fond memories of a more family-friendly celebration about a decade ago where people would at least try to hide their drinks. “Now there are a lot of teens and young adults, and they’re just going at it, drinking everywhere,” she said.

Despite her reservations toward the current state of the parade, Feltch confirmed it was still an excellent place to day drink if done responsibly – not in the middle of M St. Park.

Two men, both named Jack, came to the parade from Louisiana. They agreed the parade had nothing on Mardi Gras, rating it at “a negative two.” The more sober Jack said he was disappointed by a perceived lack of diversity, bike cops, and “shitty Boston people just wanting to yell at you all the time.” 

The less sober Jack bemoaned the lack of women flashing.

Megan, a Plymouth State University (PSU) student from southern Massachusetts, had not been to Southie since she was a kid. Not only did she call the parade worth the commute, but she said it was a better experience than PSU’s own day of debauchery—the Pirate Party. “People were behaving, and the police were not body slamming [anyone],” she said.

Megan claimed the most Boston-core thing she’d seen was “people decked out in green, drunk peeing behind a dumpster with their friends.”

“I may have been one of them,” She added.

By the end of the day, the streets were covered in broken glass, crushed Lucky Charms boxes, and the odd shirt or broken sunglasses. Twelve adults and one minor were arrested, per Boston.com, with charges including public intoxication, destruction of property, and assault and battery. Transit police charged an additional five people for acts including disorderly conduct, vandalism, and assault in battery.

Does trashing Broadway have anything to do with driving snakes out of Ireland? Probably not, but for better or worse, another parade has come and gone, paving the way for Springtime in the city.

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