Limerick: Three children in a horse-drawn carriage led yesterday's St Patrick's Day parade in Limerick as organisers dispensed with selecting a local personality as grand marshal.
The youngest ever grand marshals were selected to lead the parade after they won an art competition on the theme of "Limerick in the Future".
Organisers also turned tradition on its head by rerouting the city's annual parade for the first time in decades.
An estimated 20,000 people watched participants march uptown from Matthew Bridge, the traditional parade finishing point, along O'Connell Street to the new finishing point at Barrington Street. While the rain held off, a bitterly cold wind whipping off the River Shannon ensured that scarves and woolly hats were the order of the day.
Local bands including the ever-popular Sammy Benson's Brass and Reed Band gave their best, raising the spirits of spectators.
Doras Luimni - a development organisation for refugees and asylum seekers - added colour to the parade and their display highlighted the increasingly cosmopolitan make-up of Limerick's inhabitants.
The family-based event featured performances by the Limerick Gospel Choir, the Polish Accordionist Orchestra, the Peter Dee Academy of Music and Craiceann, and Quintessenz from the Black Forest in Germany. Children were also entertained by fire-eaters, jugglers, face painters, and puppet shows.