The 2023 Waterford St Patrick’s Day Parade truly saw the Best of Waterford with an impressive array of floats and participants taking part in the march from the Quay to the Mall and each represented their respective clubs, groups and communities, and indeed Waterford as a whole, immensely with more than 2,000 people and 70 floats braving the heavy rain and wind to celebrate our National Holiday.
However, there were a number of entries into this year’s parade which were especially memorable and were selected by the judges to be the winners in the following categories; the Overall Winners Award, the Community Float Award and the Theatre Award.
Overall Winners- Southland Sirens Roller Derby
The Overall Winners of this year’s parade is the Southland Siren’s Roller Derby, whose entry paid tribute to the Copper Coast miners of Bonmahon and saw their participants skate from the Quay to the Mall, where they would later “detonate” a mine.
Community Float Award- Waterford C.U/City of Waterford Brass (Joint Award)
The joint entry was selected as a winner of the Community Float Award and its float “Honeycomb” was created by Spraoi to celebrate Waterford CU’s 60th anniversary. The float was accompanied by the City of Waterford Brass Band who marched behind wearing bee-stripes.
Community Float Award- Waterford Filipino-Irish Community (Joint Award)
The Waterford Filipino-Irish Community were selected as a winner of the Community Float Award after their entry treated the spectators present to a wonderful display of Filipino culture through their colourful traditional costumes as well as their dancing and performances.
The Theatre Award- Waterford Youth Arts
The winners of the Theatre Award were Waterford Youth Arts, whose entry saw a number of their participants wear elaborate bird masks which was followed by an impressive nest-float.
