St Patrick’s Day Parade

Original Post March 17, 2025

“The St. Patrick’s Day Parade is our Super Bowl,” said Newport Director of Public Safety Ryan Duffy. He’s right. Amid dozens of annual community events and celebrations, not only is this parade a staple of Rhode Island and Aquidneck Island culture, it’s also a veritable symphony of behind-the-scenes security coordination and contingency planning. Weeks of preliminary whole-of-government exercises make the event—and its after parties—a safe opportunity to have a great time in our City by the Sea year after year.

My sincere thanks to the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency (RIEMA) for its outstanding facilitation of an excellent tabletop exercise, and to Newport’s Public Safety and Public Services teams, along with our mutual aid partners from all around eastern Rhode Island, for their professional and eager engagement. We couldn’t make it work without the team effort!

☘️ Happy St. Patrick’s Day! ☘️