St. Pat's parade Saturday

Did you know Houston has one of the largest St. Patrick's Day parades in the country? Ah, if you didn't, head downtown tomorrow and catch the 47th annual St. Pat's parade, which will feature more than 125 floats, marching bands, City Council members and ... Irish lawyers? They're not the ones who ride around in those tiny cars, are they?

The parade will start at 2 p.m. at Texas and Hamilton, in front of Minute Maid park. From there, the route will head west on Texas Avenue and turn south on Caroline, then west on McKinney and north on San Jacinto. The route ends at San Jacinto and Prairie, within easy walking distance of many, many bars. (Sure, it'll be the day after St. Patrick's Day, but we're sure you'll be able to find it in you to hoist a few pints.)

What Houstonist didn't know was the parade's history. It got its start in the 1880s, when Houstonians would parade from St. Patrick's Church on Harrisburg Boulevard to Market Square downtown. The parade continued until World War I, when Houston apparently started getting too spread out; it was revived in 1960 and has been held every year since then. The parade is free, which means more cash left in the beer fund. Slainte!