Sioux Falls has announced a St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Grand Marshal

SIOUX FALLS, SD (Dakota News Now) – The Sioux Falls St. Patrick’s Day Extravaganza Committee announced Wednesday that Dick Sweetman will be the grand marshal for the 2023 Sioux Falls St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday, March 18.

He will also be the first of the 42 grand marshals of the parade to be an actual Irish citizen.

According to the committee’s statement, “Sweetman was president of Sweetman Construction Co. from 1959 to 1996, Terin Construction Co. from 1996 to 2009, founded the Ellis and Eastern Railroad, and was on the board of Ramkota Companies and Kelly Inns. He is still president of Spencer “Quarris is near Spencer, S.D. And later this year, the state’s first planetarium, a gift from Dick and Kathy Sweetman, will open at the Washington Pavilion.”

A Sioux Falls native with deep ancestral ties to Ireland, Sweetman became an Irish citizen in 2001, under a program that granted dual citizenship to people whose grandparents were born in Ireland. His grandfather came to America in the late 1800s to run The Sweetman Irish Colony in Minnesota, about 85 miles east of Sioux Falls.

Sweetman and his wife, Kathy, were married in 1973 and have three children and six grandchildren. St. Patrick’s Day has always been Sweetman’s favorite holiday. “It seems everyone can claim at least some Irish blood in their veins, which is good enough excuse to lift a pint or two,” says Sweetman. “It’s also a welcome break in the middle of a dreary winter, and we thank the good saints for that.”

This year, the parade will be held on the Saturday after St. Patrick’s Day, March 18. Traditional shamrock painting at 11 a.m. at Mrs. Murphy’s Irish Gifts, S. Ave. Phillips, 219 held. The event will be public and Phillips Avenue will be closed between 10th and 11th streets at 10:45 a.m. The parade begins at Phillips Avenue and 13th Street at 2 p.m. and ends around 5th Street. Streets adjacent to the route will be closed at 1:30 p.m., and parking will not be permitted on Phillips Avenue beginning Saturday morning. The parade begins at 12:30 p.m. at Main and Dakota avenues between 11th and 13th streets.

Registration, which closes on March 12, is available here SiouxFallsEvents.Com. Buttons are available in advance at the Chamber of Commerce office, 200 N. Phillips Ave., and numerous businesses throughout the community. They can also be purchased on the day of the parade.

Major parade sponsors include Avera Health, Holiday Inn City Center, Sanford Health, Xcel Energy and a number of downtown businesses.

The Vanguard Squadron, an ethanol-fueled stunt team, will perform at the start of the parade, weather permitting. The Grand Su River Falls and the Arch of Dreams sculpture above the river will turn green on St. Patrick’s Day and the following day.

Although not officially part of the Extravaganza Committee efforts, the Lucky 7s will run a mile, five mile and 5K on the day of the parade. At Remedy Brewing Co., the one-mile race begins at 1 p.m.

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