Parade highlight of St. Patrick’s Day

Friday, March 15, 2002 | 9:43 a.m.

The 36th annual St. Patrick's Day Parade sponsored by the Sons of Erin is set for downtown Las Vegas on Sunday.

A crowd of 40,000 to 50,000 people is expected to view the two-hour event that will begin at 11 a.m. at Fourth Street and Coolidge Avenue and will proceed north to Ogden Avenue.

The parade will feature 120 entries, between 2,000 and 3,000 participants, six bands and 20 floats. Former Sons of Erin President Thomas Lally will portray St. Patrick. Mayor Oscar Goodman, calling himself Mayor O'Goodman for the occasion, will serve as parade grand marshal.

The event will honor the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America and those fighting in the subsequent campaign against terrorism.

Fifteen crew members and pilots of the Air Force's Thunderbirds precision flight team from Nellis Air Force Base are scheduled to ride in convertibles, representing the thousands of military men and women fighting in Afghanistan.

The parade will precede the five-hour St. Patrick's Day block party in the Sahara parking lot across from the hotel on Paradise Road.

The parade entry fees and block party proceeds are expected to raise $15,000 to $16,000 to help nonprofit organizations including the Boy Scouts, Nevada Children's Cancer Fund and St. Jude's Ranch.