Ballymahon 2026 St Patrick's Day parade lauded as being the 'best parade to date'

The Ballymahon St Patrick's Day parade has been lauded as the 'best parade' ever in the area, by one of the organisers.

Fianna Fáil Councillor Pat O'Toole, the chair of the organising committee said the event was huge success.

"It kicked off at four o'clock with a really heavy rain but all the floats and all the bands and everything were in place.

"We had a great turnout with around 35 floats, and we had three marching bands and we had a samba-samba band from Longford and it was very, very good.

"We were extremely pleased with it now given the way the weather was and I'd say probably maybe the best parade to date actually."

READ NEXT: PICTURES | Ballymahon goes green and braves rainfall for top class St Patrick's Day parade

The parade went forty shades of green as it celebrated the theme of 'Our Story' and it was MC’d by Tony Ghee and led by the Longford Branch of the Order of Malta.

Cllr O'Toole said it was also an advantage that the parade was the final event taking place in county Longford on St Patrick’s Day, which allowed those attending the town parade to enjoy the Ballymahon event.

Asked about the number of people who attended, Cllr O'Toole said, "I'd say there was maybe 1,500-to--2,000 people.

"It was a great turn out and the businesses did a roaring trade as well."

Cllr O'Toole stated they had several visiting bands who made a positive impression and added to the atmosphere.

"A bit like Longford, we had the Manor Cunningham Pipe Band from Donegal and we also had the Mayobridge Marching Band from County Down with us, they had been back after a number of years," he said.

"We obviously had Athlone (Town) Pipe Band and I don't know Longford don't come out because the lads aren't able to get the members together for three parades, I think they do Longford and Lanesboro."

READ NEXT: Planners give green light to county Longford battery storage facility

Cllr O'Toole said parade participants were judged across a number of categories such as, ‘best float’, ‘most humorous entry’, and ‘best school turnout’, to name but a few and prizes were presented in Cooney’s Hotel to a large number of worthy winners.

Cllr O'Toole said the overall winner was Forgney National School, who took the top prize for the best turned out float on the day.

"We had a very good new entry from the Ballymahon Men's Shed, they won the best new entry award.

"The most humorous was Brian Egan's Tyres there in Tirlickeen."