South Boston hosts St. Patrick's Day Parade; police seize dozens of jugs of booze

Throngs of green-clad, shamrock-festooned revelers filled the streets of America’s most Irish big city on Sunday for the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day parade.

The parade kicked off around 11:30 a.m. -- the earlier start time being a change this year.

Green, white and orange confetti -- the national colors of the Emerald Isle -- rained down along parts of the 3.5-mile (5.6-kilometer) route. Parade floats and marchers wound through the neighborhood of South Boston, a center of Irish-American heritage in a city where more than 1 in every 5 people are of Irish descent.

Camryn Craddock was among those along the parade route, which included parts of Broadway, the neighborhood’s thoroughfare.

“I just like the energy that everyone brings. Everyone’s really hyped up. It’s not boring," the Massachusetts resident said. "I didn’t even really see much of the parade, but just seeing everyone having fun was really nice and everything."

Travis Wilshire, another reveler, agreed.

“Last time I was here, I was just a little kid," the New Hampshire resident said. "So it’s definitely cool to see it, like, in a different age group, you know what I mean?”

Spectators packed behind metal barricades playfully hissed as colonial reenactors wearing British tricorn hats and other period garb marched past on the warm but overcast day.

The parade, which dates to the turn of the 20th century, marks both St. Patrick’s Day and Evacuation Day, which commemorates the day in 1776 when British troops left Boston after a protracted siege during the Revolutionary War.

Parade-goer Alex Brough found people mostly behaved after violence and public intoxication marred last year's festivities. Parade organizers moved up the start of the festivities and neighborhood leaders warned of " zero tolerance ” for rowdiness and shenanigans ahead of Sunday.

Boston Police confirmed they made nine arrests during the parade.

PHOTOS: 2025 South Boston St. Patrick's Day Parade

Parking bans were in effect and traffic was heavy in the area.

The MBTA ran rush hour service for much of the day on the Red Line, but bypassed Broadway station at times due to the heavy crowds. With the warm weather, up to a million people were expected to attend.

The T said in a social media post just as the parade was starting that people were already failing to follow rules around public alcohol consumption. They shared multiple photos of containers they had seized containing "BORGs," the TikTok trend known as "blackout rage gallons," where college-aged students binge drink gallon jugs of alcohol, electrolytes, flavoring and water.

Some folks refuse to listen and follow simple rules. This is a small sampling of what Transit Police officers seized from people coming into the parade. pic.twitter.com/ZBAvTzJp7y

— MBTA Transit Police (@MBTATransitPD) March 16, 2025

Boston police shared a similar image showing large garbage bags filled with containers of alcohol.

Officers Working the St. Patrick’s Day Parade Seized Alcohol Due to Underage and Public Drinking https://t.co/ZVapPEN3Yu pic.twitter.com/tjc542diob

— Boston Police Dept. (@bostonpolice) March 16, 2025

"We ask anyone coming to treat this event and the neighborhood as if it were your home. Boston is a welcoming city, but the fact is we do not welcome unruly and unlawful behavior," Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox said at a press conference earlier this week.

There were a number of arrests last year, and organizers implemented some changes to cut down on rowdiness.

In South Boston, liquor stores closed at 4 p.m. Bars and restaurants can't admit new guests after 6:30 p.m., and last call will be at 7 a.m.

"This is a family friendly event, this is not a drinking fest. and so we will be enforcing all alcohol laws regarding illegal substances and drinking in general and so we encourage parents, if you allow young folks to go to this event, you accompany with them," Cox said.

“There is probably a lot of alcohol consumed today," the Bedford, Massachusetts, resident conceded. “We witnessed it, but I think still people were overall behaving rather well, considered.”

The South Boston Allied War Veterans Council organizes the parade and this year’s chief marshal was retired Navy Lt. Cmdr. Alanna Devlin Ball, who grew up in the neighborhood and represented the U.S. at the 2023 Invictus Games in Germany where she took home gold in powerlifting.

“Lt. Cdr. Devlin Ball’s 12 years career in the Navy serves as an inspiration to young women who seek to serve in today’s military. We are grateful for her service, sacrifice and power of example,” said U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, a South Boston native.

The South Boston parade has been a source of political controversy in years past.

The veterans council banned gay rights groups from marching in the parade up until a decade ago and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling upheld that right in the 1990s. Two gay and lesbian groups joined the parade in 2015. Organizers for one of the groups, Boston Pride, heralded the move as a point of progress at the time.

This is not the only celebration of St. Patrick's Day held Sunday in South Boston. Local leaders gathered with representatives from the Irish government for the 2025 St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast on Sunday morning.

Nationally, Chicago held its St. Patrick's Day parade on Saturday. Philadelphia also celebrated on Sunday and New York City holds its parade Monday.

Associated Press reporters Patrick Whittle in Portland and Philip Marcelo in New York contributed.