Lee’s Summit back in the green: Here’s the Emerald Isle Parade’s new route

Editor’s note: Due to weather, the parade has been rescheduled for Saturday, March 19 at noon.

If you’re in the mood to wear a little green and hear some bagpipes, Lee’s Summit is ready for you. The city’s annual Emerald Isle Parade is returning March 12 after a two-year pandemic-induced break.

It will be the 16th time the parade has traversed the downtown area since it started in 2004.

This year’s route is a bit different than that of past parades. Festivities will start just south of Owen Lumber at 312 S.E. Main St. The group will head north on Southeast Main Street, then east on Third Street. For the final leg of the parade, participants will turn south on Green Street. The parade, sponsored by ReeceNichols Lee’s Summit, ends at Fifth Street. Observers can stake out spots anywhere along that route before the parade starts at noon.

More than 60 groups will march in the parade. You can expect to groove to music from Saint Michael the Archangel Catholic High School’s drumline as well as the Ararat Shriners’ bagpipes and drums.

Those waving to you as they pass through on floats will include Miss Kansas City and delegations from Meals on Wheels of Lee’s Summit and Wings 4 Water, among others. And if you’re craving a little more of that Celtic spirit, the Heartland Irish Dancers will show off a few steps.

Presiding over the downtown festivities will be the parade’s grand marshal, Geneva High, founder of Lee’s Summit Social Services.

Any little leprechauns age 8 and younger can participate in the Pot ’O Gold Hunt at 11:30 a.m., before the parade. Kids will be searching Howard Station Park at 220 S.E. Main St. for plastic green and gold coins. Those who do find some of that gold from the end of the rainbow can swap it for a prize bag stuffed with party favors such as stickers, notebooks, candy and bubbles.

And if that’s got you thinking of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” (or at least the green of the Emerald City), you’ve got the idea, because this year’s parade theme is “There’s no place like home.”

“People can interpret (that) how they like. They can have a ‘Wizard of Oz’ twist to it. We think there’s a lot of be celebrated in our community that we call home,” said Julie Cook, events and promotions director for Downtown Lee’s Summit Main Street.

Any revelers who’ve reached age 21 can join in on a pub crawl happening at 1 p.m. throughout downtown, just after the end of the parade.

This story was originally published March 10, 2022 at 5:00 AM.