Parade Returns To Fort Collins For First Time Since 2019

Our long, local nightmare is officially over. The Fort Collins St. Patrick's Day parade is BACK for 2026 and it's about time!

The city "retired" the event in 2019 due to the rising cost of production and security, long before COVID was a thing - if that's what you've heard was the reason for it going away. It was not.

Get our free mobile app

It was always one of the best Saturdays in Fort Collins... usually with decent weather, people crowded along College Avenue, green and gold far as the eye can see. Tons of groups and local businesses would get together and enter floats into the parade, then immediately after venture out into Old Town to find a green snack or beer. It was glorious.

We've missed it for five consecutive years now. But thanks to NoCo Unify and High Country Beverage, it's finally making its comeback Saturday, March 14, 2026.

Look Back: Fort Collins St. Patrick's Day Parade is Sorely Missed

The parade will happen rain or shine, and kicks off at 10 AM in downtown Fort Collins. The parade route is posted on its website.

Even though COVID wasn't the reason the St. Paddy's Parade went away, it still feels like this marks some kind of occasion coming back from the last few years where so many of our favorite things and events fell by the wayside for a few years.

I remember many, many of these parades over the years meeting friends at Lucky Joe's after my parade emcee duties were complete. They are some of my absolute favorite memories of living and working in Northern Colorado. And they're back, baby!