A chairde, friends,
time to welcome the end of a very long and cold winter (we hope) with some serious celebrating. So come along and march along with us down Oslo’s main street , see a performance of traditional dance, and meet friends and future friends for a good day out…and show there is still life left in the Irish!! Lets see if we can get a good turn out like the one below.
(OK this is actually the opening of the ski VM but the principle is the same…except nobody complains about the cold!!)
Start Point
The parade starting point, will be Jernbanetorget (i.e. outside Oslo S). Please arrive as early as possible.
Start Time :
The parade will start at 1 pm sharp (very sharp!) . We would like all participants to arrive as soon as possible at the start point, preferably up to 30 mins beforehand (give you a chance to chat anyway). so that we can organise the march order which we intend to follow as rigorously as possible, If you should arrive late you are still very welcome to join the parade at the back or as instructed by the marshals.
Colour
We want as many as possible to join the parade and we want it to be as colourful as possible. Those of you who have county flags , please bring them along, little and large leprechauns and shillelagh jugglers welcome. We dont care if people are black, white, yellow or pink as long as they are green.
Needless to say you dont have to have an Irish passport to be Irish (and indeed you are not necessarily Irish even if you have one as we have seen in the news) on St Patrick’s Day, so people of any nationality are welcome to march with us, as long as they are prepared to be Irish for the day and meet the minimum requirement to “greenity”.
Grand Marshal
The Norwegian Irish Society has been recently established in Oslo, however it took its inspiration from the activities of our compatriots in Bergen, The Bergen Irish Society was established in 1999 and its Chairman since 2001 has been Eamonn Doyle.
In recognition of his work in promoting Ireland and Irish culture, in contributing to the good relationship between Ireland and Norway, and providing, through the Bergen Irish Society, support to the Irish community in the west of Norway, we have selected Eamonn as this year’s Grand Marshal.
Hard Rock Cafe
Following on from last year we have again allied ourselves with one of our sponsors, the Hard Rock Cafe (2 minutes walk from Universitetsplassen) and they have set aside an area for us upstairs after the parade finishes (approx 14.15). If you wish to go there you will need to book a table beforehand by email to oslo@hardrockcafe.no or calling 4000 6260 and make reference that this is part of the NIS arrangement on the 19th March.
We dont know how many will avail of this offer, so book early to be sure.
Hard Rock are giving some discount on their meals ,and some friendly drink prices and they will make available their virtual bowling facilities for free on the day. We will also hold a raffle.
We appreciate that some may opt for the traditional crowded pub and of course we are also in favour of supporting our other sponsors but in the course of a long day both options are possible to experience.
Motto
Our motto : The aim of St Patrick’s Day is to put a smile on the face of the world
So lets put a smile on the face of Oslo (and ourselves in these troubled times for Ireland). Join us on the 19th.
Remember to follow any developments on our website http://www.irishsociety.no/
le meas, best regards
Conn Fagan
on behalf of the St Patrick’s Day Organising Committee / NIS
Follow the parade on Facebook.
Hi.
I think you forgot to put the date when the parade will take place, or it is not written in a very prominent or obvious place. I do suppose that it will not taker place at 1 pm on the 17th? Is it the following Saturday?
Yhank you.
Yours Lill F. S
Hi, you are absolutely right about the date not being prominent enough. We have now put the date in the title. Thanks for the feedback!
Perfect day! First a parade, then watch Ireland beat England at rugby, I’ll be wearing nothing but green
Hi there, i’m pretty new to norway and live out in kongsberg, i could not celebrate st.paddy’s day on the 17th but would love to come and join in on the celebration this saturday as i hear thats when the irish in oslo will be celebrating it, i was wondering if anyone could give me some info on whats happening this saturday and where are the spots to be going, i’ve never been to oslo so this will be a first for me too and also where will the best place to watch ireland beat england in the rugby,
Cheers,
Paul from limerick
Hi Paul, welcome to Norway and Oslo! The parade starts at 1 pm from outside Oslo Central train station. After that there are few options, you can go to Hard rock cafe for a meal or some of the Irish pubs like The Dubliner or O’Reilly’s. I would say all of those places show the rugby match. I am sure you will meet loads of Irish people at the parade who might give you some more advice.
Hi!
I am from Norway, but Ireland has a very very special place in my heart. So far, I’ve been to Ireland 3 times (The first time, I went to Sligo and Dublin, the other two times to Dublin). I’m going back to Dublin at the end of the month, actually.
Anyway… I am writing this because I have been reading about the St. Patrick’s Parade that will take place in Oslo tomorrow. I have read it all, but because I want to be 100% sure, I am going to ask the following: Is it possible for me to join the parade or do I have to watch it from the street as the parade marches by? I have some Irish clothes, also I have some county flags that I bought when in Ireland. I will be wearing the Irish clothes and will also wear the Irish “hat”.
Would appreciate a quick reply as I will need to organize my day if I do join the parade.
Heidi
Hello Heidi, you are of course welcome to join the parade! We hope as many people as possible will join us in celebrating Ireland’s national day! Wear green, bring your flags and join us for a day of fun!
Hi, and thanks for the quick reply
I look forward to joining the parade. It will be the first time I have the chance to do that, and I think it will be both fun and exciting
I will bring the county flags that I have, also going to be wearing green.
Heidi x
Hi
What is the route of the parade, from Oslo S to……
Looking forward to watch it tomorrow.
From Oslo S up Karl Johans gate to Universitetsplassen.
We went to This celebration last year and had
a lovely time!
We will be there tomorrow aswell
Thanks so much for the info but unfortunatly i won’t make it to the parade as i must work, but i will definitly be making the trip into oslo to roar on the mighty irish in the rugby, so hope to see ye all in the dubliner.
Many thanks
paul
I really looked forward to participate in the Paddy’s parade in Oslo this year, after been in Ireland for the last 5 years…but unfortunately everything went wrong today and we needed to change our flights so wont be able to make it, but we will celebrate with the flags, green cakes, green beer, hats etc together with my fathers b’day party…hope to be there next time…..
PS- Have a great parade and great St. Patricks day! Go Ireland!!