St. Patrick's Day parade celebrates Boston heritage in America’s most Irish big city

BOSTON (AP) — 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.

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.

Before the parade, transit police posted a photo on social media showing a pile of clear garbage bags filled with confiscated booze, including gallon-sized jugs filled with green liquid.

“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.

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.

Participants dressed as Minutemen march during the St. Patrick's Day parade, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Boston, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Empty containers used for homemade drinks overflow the garbage cans after the St. Patrick's Day parade, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Boston, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Spectators cheer during the St. Patrick's Day parade, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Boston, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A sheet metal worker high-fives the crowd during the St. Patrick's Day parade, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Boston, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A Shriner motors by the crowd during the St. Patrick's Day parade, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Boston, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A man on a float encourages the crowd to cheer louder during the St. Patrick's Day parade, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Boston, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Graham Johnston, of St. Louis, Mo., dressed as a leprechaun, and others reach for treats thrown by participants at the St. Patrick's Day parade, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Boston, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Spectators cheer at the St. Patrick's Day parade, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Boston, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A drummer performs during the St. Patrick's Day parade, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Boston, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Michele Hunter, of Pawlet, Vt., center left, and Erin Riley, of Saugus, Mass., cheer a performer at the St. Patrick's Day parade, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Boston, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Spectators watch the St. Patrick's Day parade from a balcony, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Boston, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Performers shoot muskets at the St. Patrick's Day parade, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Boston, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A man dressed as a leprechaun slaps hands with the crowd during the St. Patrick's Day parade, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Boston, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Spectators celebrate during the St. Patrick's Day parade, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Boston, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

FILE - A person waves an Irish flag while watching the St. Patrick's Day parade, Sunday, March 17, 2024, in Boston's South Boston neighborhood. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Just over a day after blasting off, a SpaceX crew capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, delivering the replacements for NASA’s two stuck astronauts.

The four newcomers — representing the U.S., Japan and Russia — will spend the next few days learning the station’s ins and outs from Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. Then the two will strap into their own SpaceX capsule later this week, one that has been up there since last year, to close out an unexpected extended mission that began last June.

Wilmore and Williams expected to be gone just a week when they launched on Boeing’s first astronaut flight. They hit the nine-month mark earlier this month.

The Boeing Starliner capsule encountered so many problems that NASA insisted it come back empty, leaving its test pilots behind to wait for a SpaceX lift.

While the seven space station residents prepared for the new arrivals, one of Russians — Ivan Vagner — briefly put on an alien mask in a lighthearted moment. Wilmore swung open the space station's hatch and rang the ship's bell as the new crew floated in one by one and were greeted with hugs and handshakes..

“It was a wonderful day. Great to see our friends arrive,” Williams told Mission Control.

Wilmore's and Williams' ride arrived back in late September with a downsized crew of two and two empty seats reserved for the leg back. But more delays resulted when their replacements’ brand new capsule needed extensive battery repairs. An older capsule took its place, pushing up their return by a couple weeks to mid-March.

Weather permitting, the SpaceX capsule carrying Wilmore, Williams and two other astronauts will undock from the space station no earlier than Wednesday and splash down off Florida's coast.

Until then, there will be 11 aboard the orbiting lab, representing the U.S., Russia and Japan.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

REMOVES REFERENCE TO NICK HAGUE - This image provided by NASA shows one of space station astronauts wearing a grey alien mask before greeting the crew of the arriving SpaceX Dragon Capsule at the International Space Station, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (NASA via AP)

This image provided by NASA shows astronaut Nick Hague greeting the arriving SpaceX Dragon Capsule wearing a grey alien mask after a SpaceX capsule docked with the International Space Station, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (NASA via AP)

This image made from video by NASA shows astronauts, including Nichole Ayers, center left, greeting each other after a SpaceX capsule docked with the International Space Station, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (NASA via AP)

This image made from video by NASA shows astronauts, including Suni Williams, center, greeting each other after a SpaceX capsule docked with the International Space Station, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (NASA via AP)

This image made from video by NASA shows astronauts, including Takuya Onishi, center, greeting each other after the SpaceX capsule docked with the International Space Station, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (NASA via AP)

This image made from video by NASA shows astronauts greeting each other after a SpaceX capsule docked with the International Space Station, Sunday, March 16, 2025. Top row from left: Nick Hague, Alexander Gorbunov, Suni Williams, Alexei Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner. Bottom row from left: Butch Wilmore, Takuya Onishi, Anne McClain, Kirill Peskov, Nichole Ayers and Don Pettit. (NASA via AP)

This image made from video by NASA shows astronauts Don Pettit, bottom center, hugging Kirill Peskov as astronauts greet each other after a SpaceX capsule docked with the International Space Station, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (NASA via AP)

This image made from video by NASA shows Russian astronaut Alexei Ovchinin, left, Butch Wilmore, center, and Suni Williams wait to greet newly arrived astronauts after the SpaceX capsule docked with the International Space Station, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (NASA via AP)

This image made from video by NASA shows the International Space Station as the SpaceX capsule closes in for docking, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (NASA via AP)

This image made from video by NASA shows a SpaceX capsule carrying four astronauts on final approach to the International Space Station before docking on Sunday, March 16, 2025. (NASA via AP)

This image made from video by NASA shows the docking of the SpaceX capsule to the International Space Station Sunday, March 16, 2025. (NASA via AP)

Crew10 members, from left, cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, astronaut Nichole Ayers, astronaut Anne McClain and JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi leave the Operations and Checkout building before heading to Launch Pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., for a mission to the International Space Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)