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Date: 4/5/2022
HOLYOKE – Ever since the coronavirus pandemic residents have sacrificed annual events and traditions due to health and safety precautions. The return of the Holyoke St. Patrick’s Parade on March 20 after a two-year hiatus brought with it a boost of energy to the community as well as economically.
Director of Holyoke’s Office of Planning and Economic Development Aaron Vega said the cancellation of the parade illustrated the enormous economic impact the event brings to the community. From restaurants and bars to banquet halls, many of theses businesses in Holyoke and the county would host celebrations from Grand Marshall events to Colleen banquets in lead up to the parade.
“Obviously for a lot of businesses in Holyoke and in the surrounding area, the parade’s a huge economic driver. So not having that has an impact regionally,” said Vega.
Vega added that not only is the weekend important for the Holyoke economy, but the week leading up to parade day is significant for the small businesses in Holyoke. The St. Patrick’s Road Race the day before the parade also has been a historically profitable day for the downtown restaurants and bars, and based on the amount of people who came out parade weekend, it was likely another successful day, he said.
Vega also mentioned that the city was fortunate enough to have a handful of new restaurants open during the pandemic like Crave and Totally Baked 413 that were able to experience for the first time the boost from parade weekend.
“They all got to see the real positive impact of what having tens of thousands of people downtown can have on their small businesses,” Vega said.
Vega added it was also great for longstanding businesses like Brennan’s and the Unicorn to have the parade return as they missed out harshly on what is typically the biggest day of the year for these restaurants.
While Vega and the city of Holyoke do not track the parade weekend’s direct economic impact in dollars each year, he did cite the University of Massachusetts’ Donahue Institute study from 2012. This study found through an economic contribution analysis that the parade generates a total contribution of $20.5 million in local economic activity.
The report also adds that with over 400,000 spectators attracted to a typical parade, $12 million is brought into the region through lodging, food, recreation, groceries, gifts and souvenirs, and additional shopping.
“I’ve heard anecdotally that traditionally some of the downtown bars would make 25 percent or more of their revenue for the year in that week,” Vega said.
With the 2022 parade going down as a successful event with perfect weather, Vega said it really ended up being one of the best parade weekends he has experienced in Holyoke.
Vega had marched in six parades prior to the pandemic.
“You could just see the joy across everyone’s face that was down there, lots of excitement. People obviously wanted so desperately to get back together and socialize and have fun again and listen to music, have a few beverages and what not,” Vega said.
With such great weather, “fabulous” crowds made their way out according to Vega. He added that even in areas that in prior years might have thinner crowds, that this year it was a packed event.
Vega also mentioned how great it was to see the community come out for the parade’s return and reiterated that it was a great weekend for the city of Holyoke and its community to bring back the parade that has been a part of so many people’s lives.
“It was really fun to see longstanding families that have their same spot every year return,” Vega said. “That’s really what parade weekend’s about, it’s about tradition. If you don’t get together and have people, you don’t have tradition so it’s just great to get those traditions back.”