The Dundalk St Patrick's Day parade winners presented with their awards

The Dundalk St Patrick's Day parade winners were presented with their awards at a ceremony on Friday.

Hundreds of people braved the rain to take part in the parade in town with the heavy downpour not dampening their spirits and they walked, danced and skipped through the streets of Dundalk.

Three awards were up for grabs for the parade entrants, and the judges from the parade’s main sponsors, Louth County Council, Dundalk Credit Union and PayPal had a very difficult job deciding as all the participants were wonderful on the day.

However, after much deliberating The Best Overall Entrant, sponsored by Louth County Council, went to Dance Kids Blues Brothers, while the Best Commercial Entrant, sponsored by PayPal was awarded to the electric vehicles of Blackstone Motors, and the Best Youth Entrant, sponsored by Dundalk Credit Union, was given to McGee School of Dance.

Karen Cumiskey of Dance Kids, speaking to the Dundalk Democrat at the award ceremony, said: “We are totally delighted for all our members of Dance Kids.

“They were absolutely great on the day, they just danced their hearts out despite the rain.
“It is just brilliant to have the parade back in town and all the kids were really excited about taking part.

“And a massive well done to all our Dance Kids, what an amazing achievement. We are so proud of you all.

“Thank you to the parade committee for bringing the parade back to Dundalk, we all had a fantastic day despite the bad weather and thank you to Louth County Council for our amazing prize which we will treasure forever.”

Nicola and Dervla McGee of McGee School of Dance said: “It is a great achievement for our dancers to win an award at the parade.

“Despite the rain they had a great time. We are so proud of them.”

Nicola said that a group of dancers from McGee School of Dance are going to Montreal next month to take part in the World Irish Dancing Championships.

Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú congratulated all the participants of the parade and the winners.
Deputy Ó Murchu also thanked the sponsors.

It was the first parade in four years and was one of the largest ever, with a huge number of groups, businesses and organisations taking part under the theme Urban Green.

The Dundalk St Patrick’s Day parade voluntary committee, which is made up of councillors Conor Keelan and Maeve Yore, along with Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú, Shane McBride, Dagan Fleming, Maria O’Toole and Anne Campbell, said they were pleased with the turnout for the parade.