Cedar Rapids goes green for SaPaDaPaSo parade

CEDAR RAPIDS — Marking 50 years since calls came in for starting a St. Patrick’s Day parade in Cedar Rapids, Monday’s parade will draw many who have volunteered for or attended the beloved tradition since the beginning.

“My first parade was back in the late 70s,” said Holly Meyer, of Marion. Her family quickly became involved in forming the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade Society, commonly referred to as SaPaDaPaSo, in 1978. “My aunt and uncle (Mike and Dixie Kelly) were some of the first members.”

After her Aunt Dixie passed away, Meyer began volunteering in her aunt’s honor.

“And that’s how it started,” Meyer said.

She is a current member and past president of SaPaDaPaSo, the nonprofit organization run by volunteers that plans and hosts the parade. This year, she’ll be the parade marshal in the staging area, telling each float when to take off.

According to SaPaDaPaSo, the parade traces its origins to Aug. 30, 1975, when WMT-AM announcer Dick Hardiman reported on his morning show that it was 200 days to St. Patrick’s Day. Not long after, calls started coming in asking about the possibility of having a parade. So when the next St. Patrick Day’s rolled around March 17, 1976, the first parade in Cedar Rapids debuted.

Cedar Rapids has had an annual St. Patrick’s Day parade since then — except for 2020, when it was canceled during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic — although it hasn’t always been on the day itself and one time detoured from a downtown route.

Family tradition

A resident of rural Cedar Rapids, Chris Faille is a past president and current member of SaPaDaPaSo. Her immediate family enters a float each year. Her children are “really into it,” as are her eight siblings “all the way down to the great-grandkids,” Faille said.

Faille’s father, Jim Glynn, was one of the early organizers of the parade. Glynn also is the longest St. Patrick portrayer, filling the role for about 17 years. More recently, Faille’s son, Kyle, acted as St. Patrick for a few years.

The 2025 St. Patrick portrayer also has a family connection to the role. “This year, that role is going to be filled by Mike Duggan. His dad was Jimmy Duggan, who was St. Patrick in the parade for quite a number of years,” Faille said.

This year’s SaPaDaPaSo president is Chuck Cavanaugh, and the 2025 colleen is Kaelynn Blood.

“There’s not just one big role. There are so many people who play different parts,” Meyer said.

From small beginnings

The parade started small. It went from the former Federal Building (now Cedar Rapids City Hall) on First Street SE to Greene Square near Fifth Street SE.

“The first parade lasted like, two minutes. They walked across the bridge,” Faille said. “The second year, small again. Then SaPaDaPaSo, the organization, was born.”

Back in the day, a local resident bought a pig he dyed green to walk the parade. Some people had beer kegs on their floats.

“That changed. There’s definitely no alcohol allowed in the parade,” Faille said. “We wanted to make it more of a family event.”

The St. Patrick’s Day Parade reached it heyday in 1990 when the crowd grew to a whopping 50,000.

“We’ve had multiple weddings in the parade. People love St. Patrick’s Day, and they want it to be their wedding day, so they get married in the parade,” Faille said.

The only year SaPaDaPaSo canceled the parade was in 2020 during the worst of the pandemic. In 2021, the nonprofit moved the parade out of downtown to the Hawkeye Downs Speedway & Expo Center.

Out of concern over dwindling volunteer numbers, SaPaDaPaSo moved the parade to Saturdays in 2022 and 2023. But that change didn’t last long.

If you go

What: 50th Annual SaPaDaPaSo St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

When: 1 p.m. Monday, March 17

Where: Downtown Cedar Rapids. The parade will travel a route that begins on Sixth Street SE, turning left on Second Avenue SE, then left on First Street SE, left on Third Avenue SE and ending at Greene Square.

Parking: No parking on parade route from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Website: sapadapaso.org.

“We got so much flack from people because it wasn’t on the day (of St. Patrick’s Day). So, we moved it back,” Faille said.

There have been fewer floats in the parade in recent years. But some groups — or families — get creative decorating floats. One of Meyer’s and Faille’s favorites was a take on the rock band Kiss, called Irish Kiss, a horror-themed float by Circle of Ash, a “haunted attraction” near Central City.

Last year, there were about a dozen Jeeps from a Jeep club and a large group of bicycles. The city limits the number of floats to 100. “We’ll probably end up with between 65 and 70” this year, Faille said.

The Faille family has entered a variety of floats over the years. This time, they will enter another float — green, of course. Look for No. 7.

“It’ll be high-flyin’,” Faille said, keeping this year’s float theme a secret.

See the St. Patrick's Day Parade Route

Costs keep going up

SaPaDaPaSo’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade happens because of hard work, not luck.

“For a long time, the parade was put on — the fundraising done, everything — just strictly by SaPaDaPaSo. Over the last couple of years, as things have increased in cost, we’ve started partnering with some local businesses. This year we’re partnering with Mango Mustache,” Faille said. Mango Mustache is an event marketing company.

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The annual Hooley is the group’s biggest fundraiser. The event features Irish food and the Irish band Wylde Nept, a regional favorite. The tally from this year’s Hooley, held March 1 at Cliff’s Dive Bar & Grill, hasn’t been totaled yet.

“We have a lot of big sponsors this year, which is wonderful,” Meyer said. “It really does help with the expense.”

One of the biggest expenses? Hiring police for the parade route, with the number of officers determined by Cedar Rapids Police Department based on crowd size. Then there are barricades, portable toilets, insurance, bandshell rental for judges and announcers, and paying to cover parking meters along the route where parking is not allowed for several hours on Monday.

“The costs continue to go up,” Faille said.

The parade planning season runs from September to September — with a core group of about 15 meeting on the 17th of each month. Things kick into high gear on Feb. 17. Over the years, they’ve modernized the group, setting up social media accounts, a website, QR codes and a Venmo account for donations.

Faille said that the nonprofit’s parade planning group has gotten a lot smaller over the years as longtime volunteers have passed. “We’re small, but mighty,” she said.

On the event day, they’d ideally like to have about 75 volunteers. They recruit from groups such as the Cedar Raptors women’s football team or the Five Seasons Ski Team, who volunteer in exchange for a donation.

“It’s a way to help other groups and help ourselves at the same time,” Meyer said.

This year, they’ve also contracted with Per Mar Security Services to be certain they’ll have enough crowd control.

“The crowd has a tendency to encroach. The marshals’ job is to keep your kids safe,” Faille said.

And then, it's the big day.

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“All the work is leading up to that point. When the parade actually happens, you just kind of relax and enjoy it,” Meyer said.

‘A neat feeling’

Everyone’s Irish on March 17. From being involved in the parade when they were young, both Faille and Meyer said their kids and grandkids continue the tradition.

“I think the first parade that Hallie had the boys in, that really stands out. They were so stinkin’ cute,” Meyer said of her grandsons and daughter, Hallie LeMaster, of Cedar Rapids. Two years ago, the LeMasters borrowed a brightly painted van resembling the “Mystery Machine” and dressed as Scooby Doo characters.

“My aunt, Anne Kelly, was the very first colleen in the parade. I’ve had one sister and nieces and great-nieces. One of my granddaughters was a colleen in 2019. That’s kind of held for a lot of the families that are part of the group,” Faille said.

Faille and Meyer are proud that this favorite community tradition continues to live on.

“When you ride through the parade and you’ve got your little sash on, they’re all waving to you and hollering and you’re waving to them,” Meyer said. “It’s just neat. It’s a neat feeling. It’s fun.”

Volunteers still needed

Volunteers aged 18 and older are still needed for Monday’s parade. Sign up at sapadapaso.org. Questions? Email sapadapaso317@gmail.com