I have been to a handful of Parade Days here in Binghamton in my short lifetime. I know the parade can take some criticism from local residents and business owners, but overall the parade makes the city money and provides entertainment and recreation to the area.

I have never had a bad experience at the parade. Sometimes the weather isn’t optimal and sometimes people have a few too much to drink, but we can’t let one bad apple ruin the day for everyone.

That being said, the ranking by Wallethub of the Best Cities for St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations falls short of giving Binghamton a fighting chance against larger cities.

The rankings took into account amount of parades, how long parades have been going on, Irish pubs and restaurants, access to bars, and google searches. All of which Binghamton excels at.

They also took into account average beer prices, 3-star hotel prices, and 4+ star Irish pubs and restaurants. Binghamton has two hotels right in the downtown and is pretty cheap when it comes to beer prices. There are a handful of Irish pubs in the area, but Binghamton may have been docked points because most are a drive from the immediate downtown area.

Walkability, weather, and traffic were also taken into consideration for these rankings.

I do understand these rankings are extremely quantitative and that is probably why Binghamton failed to make the list. But where Binghamton lacks in quantitative qualities it makes up in spirit and fun.

I saw thousands of people having fun at the parade while dancing and singing. I saw children wide-eyed and smiling as band passed by and candy was flung at them. I saw families and old high school friends getting together to enjoy their Irish heritage or pretending to be Irish for one day!

Even thought Binghamton didn’t make the list, in spirit we should have!

See y’all next year!

The full list of rankings can be found here.

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