Organisers of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Enniskillen have taken the decision not to go ahead with a parade this year due to the sense of unease which still remains among the community due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Over the last few weeks, the small voluntary team of Project St. Patrick had put a call-out in the local community for expressions of interest for this year’s scaled-back ‘Back To You in 22’ parade.

However, following a committee meeting on Monday evening (February 7) to deliberate the outcome of the expressions of interest call-out, Project St. Patrick made the announcement on Wednesday (February 9) that a parade this year is not feasible.

“It is with genuine reluctance that the voluntary committee of Project St. Patrick must announce that there will be no county parade this year in Enniskillen,” said a spokesperson, going on to outline that the decision was based on a number of factors.

“Given the lateness of the hour of restrictions lifting, coupled with the sense of unease which still remains amongst the community, we were unable to bring you the quality of floats you have become accustomed to.

“Bands have not been practising, groups not meeting, and schools and businesses don’t know what one day will look like to the next. Covid has left almost everyone understandably non-committal. No-one is as disappointed as us, but we did not want to let you down, even with a scaled-back event.”

Thanking the groups who got in touch to express their interest in being involved with this year’s parade, the Project St. Patrick spokesperson added: “We trust your enthusiasm rolls over to 2023 because we are pledging to start planning now for next year to come back bigger and better than ever before with a festival to meet all expectations.

“Hopefully Enniskillen will also be looking its finest and will provide a fitting backdrop for an event we can all be proud of.

“To pull this off, we will need many volunteers on the day and are always welcoming of new community-spirited members to our committee, so please get in touch if it’s something you’d like to be part of.”

The Project St. Patrick spokesperson offered the team’s great appreciation to Fermanagh and Omagh District Council for their “generous offer of sponsorship and funding via [the] Department of Communities”.

“We’d like too to acknowledge the support of Experience Enniskillen; be sure to follow their social media pages for details of the fun events they have planned around the town in March,” they added.

Experience Enniskillen, in conjunction with Live at the Castle Under the Big Top, are in the process of planning a range of family-friendly activities for St. Patrick’s Day on March 17 followed by a live music event that evening.

More details to follow in the coming days.