Empire State Building To Honor St. Patrick

On Monday March 17th, the Empire State Building will light its tower green in honor of The New York City St Patrick's Day Parade.

The 247 year old Parade is one of New York City's greatest traditions. The Parade is fourteen years older than the United States of America having marched for the first time on streets of Manhattan on March 17, 1762 - fourteen Years before the Declaration of Independence.

The Parade is a celebration of Irish Faith, Heritage and Culture and honors Saint Patrick the Patron Saint of Ireland and the Archdiocese of New York.

The Parade is recognized as the largest Parade in the World. It is expected that Parade participants will inject around $500 million into the economy of New York City this year with many of its 250,000 marchers and 1-2 million spectators staying in the city for the week-end festivities before the Monday's Parade.

The New York 'Irish Infantry' National Guard 69th Regiment leads the Parade up Fifth Avenue, and they are followed by the various Irish societies of the city, the thirty two Irish County Societies, and various Schools, Collages, Emerald societies, Irish-language, and nationalist societies.

The lighting of the tower green March 17th also marks a special day for the Empire State Building. Construction on the site began on March 17, 1930 and the corner stone was later laid by the then former governor of New York, and famous Irish American of his day Alfred E. Smith.

The Empire State Building is located at 350 Fifth Avenue, between 33rd and 34th streets in Midtown Manhattan The lighting of the building itself is scheduled to take place from dusk until approximately 4am.