The Top Three Cities for St. Patrick's Day Parades (That Aren't NYC or Boston)

Savannah's St. Patrick's Day Parade

The United State's biggest and oldest St. Patrick's Day celebration takes place on the streets of New York, but there are tons of other cities that throw similarly huge parades, complete with floats, bagpipes and tons of revelers decked out in green. It just goes to show that you don't always have to jump the Atlantic Ocean to celebrate St. Patrick's Day properly in Ireland; in fact, some US cities make a bigger deal out of the holiday than the homeland does, and we've found the Top 3.

Crack open a Guinness and see the Top 3 Cities for St. Patrick's Day (that aren't New York or Boston), after the jump!

· Savannah, Georgia
For one of the biggest celebrations, head down South. Savannah's shindig is the second-largest St. Pat's Day parade in the country. More than 400,000 are expected to come out this year on March 17. Most probably come to partake in the festival brews, since Savannah absolutely allows open containers. Just be sure to keep your drinks in the festival area, otherwise the police will cut your party short.

· Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton may be best known for being home to our favorite paper supply company, Dunder Mifflin. But the city also is the site of a hopping parade, which will go down on March 13. Scranton's St. Patrick's Parade Association says that it's the second-largest parade in the country, as measured by the number of participants per population of the city in which its held (Savannah and NYC come in at one and two, respectively). We're sure Michael Scott wouldn't miss it.

· Chicago, Illinois
Chicago loves St. Patrick's Day so much that up until last year, the city used to hold two separate, big parades for its north and south sides. They've since merged into one large parade shindig, for all to watch. As part of its pre-parade festivities, the city shows its Irish colors by dyeing the Chicago River a lovely shade of kelly green, a tradition that dates back to 1962. This year the parade steps off on March 13.

[Photos: Bruce Tuten, Scranton St. Patrick's Day Parade/culkin.john, crazbabe21]

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