The Latest: St Patrick's Day Parade has sunny, inclusive day
NEW YORK (AP) - The Latest on New York City's St. Patrick's Day Parade (all times local):
8:50 p.m.
The luck of the Irish held throughout one of the world's longest parades as the 257th running of the St. Patrick's Day parade was carried out under sunny skies.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo says it was his pleasure to march Saturday with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, Ireland's first openly gay leader.
The Democratic governor noted it wasn't that long ago when parade organizers had gone to the courts in multiple years to try to block gay marchers from participating.
But those fights in the 1990s have given away to more inclusion. This year, at least two groups in the parade had banners identifying marchers as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.
The parade lasted nearly six hours and featured more than100 marching bands and an estimated 150,000 marchers.
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12:20 p.m.
Some spectators and participants at the 257th St. Patrick's Day parade in New York City cite family histories as evidence of Ireland's deep American roots.
Matthew McCrosson said at Saturday's parade that he's marched in it many times in 50 years. The 68-year-old says his parents were both Irish but he likes that the parade honors all nationalities.
Spectator Judy Hughes says she's been going to the parade since she was a child. Her father once led the march in a battalion of the New York Army National Guard.
Her husband, Bill Hughes, a retired police officer, marched for 10 years and now says he wishes he was off the sidelines. He says the parade is better when you're in it.
The parade has been a city staple since the mid-1800s.
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11:25 a.m.
The 257th running of New York City's St. Patrick's Day parade has kicked off after Gov. Andrew Cuomo reminded the crowd that America is a nation of immigrants.
The Democrat called Saturday a "day of inclusion" in remarks before over 100 marching bands and a slew of dignitaries and a sea of green made their way up Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
About 150,000 people were participating in the 1.4-mile (2.2-kilometer) march past Central Park, St. Patrick's Cathedral and Trump Tower.
The parade has been a city staple since the mid-1800s.
Once a defiant celebration of Irish pride as earlier settlers protested the newest immigrants, the parade has recently mostly been controversy free.
Even the 1990s fight over the inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender marchers is over.
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7:40 a.m.
Manhattan's Fifth Avenue will thunder with the sounds of more than 100 marching bands in the 257th New York City's St. Patrick's Day parade.
The parade starts at 11 a.m. Saturday and lasts nearly six hours.
An estimated 150,000 people will march the 1.4 mile (2.2 kilometer) route past Central Park, St. Patrick's Cathedral and Trump Tower.
The parade has been a major event in the city since the mid-1800s.
Back then, it was a defiant celebration of Irish pride by immigrants facing nativist calls for their exclusion from the workforce and from the country.
Once again, the parade will be led by members of the 69th Infantry Regiment of the New York Army National Guard.
The regiment first led the parade in 1851 as a deterrent to anti-immigrant violence.