Dublin has enjoyed one of its most successful St. Patrick’s Day weekend celebrations to date culminating in a large parade today across the City watched by thousands.

The first St Patrick’s Festival was held over one day, and night, on March 17th 1996 when the live audience for the day was estimated to be 430,000. In 1997, festival organisers dropped the word “Day” from the title and it became “St. Patrick’s Festival”, a three day event. The Festival has since grown to become a four day festival and in 2001 was enjoyed by 1.2 million people.

Preparation for the annual first St Patrick’s Festival in Dublin used to take only 5 months, but with the growth of the Festival, it now takes organisers 18 months to plan for Ireland’s biggest annual celebration. This year’s festival was particularly significant in the year of The Gathering.

For the first year ever the Festival has invited people from across the world to march in the St. Patrick’s Festival Parade, on March 17th. ‘The People’s Parade’ will see friends and family from abroad cheered on by hundreds of thousands of spectators as they pass by some of Ireland’s most historic landmarks including the GPO, Trinity College and Dublin Castle.

Watched by a live audience on the streets of over half a million, Ireland’s leading pageant companies animated their interpretations of this year’s parade theme, ‘Great Things Happen When We Get Together’. Artistic groups including Buí Bolg, Spraoi, Brighter Futures, Artastic, City Fusion, Inishowen Carnival Group, and Dowtcha presented their awe-inspiring and thought provoking imaginative creations on the streets of the capital during this year’s Festival Parade.

Acting CEO of St. Patrick’s Festival, Edelle Moss welcomed the arrival of our patron saint St. Patrick in Dublin for the celebrations commenting; “I am delighted that St. Patrick has arrived safely for the 2013 Festival. His presence in Dublin throughout the Festival celebrations always creates a splash! The 2013 Festival has involved 18 months of planning and I am confident that this year’s festivities will be the best to date. The economic impact of the Festival is also hugely beneficial to the country with previous research showing that spending by tourists and Dubliners contributes over €50.5m to the economy annually making it one of the most important events of the year for a lot of businesses in the city.” How did you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this year share your experiences below!