HOBOKEN AND BEYOND — After the Hoboken St. Patrick’s Parade Committee announced on its website on Friday that they were canceling this year’s parade, saying they refused to have it on a dark weekday night and wanted to keep it on Saturday, several people have started Facebook pages and a website urging people to come party on the first Saturday of March anyway.
Someone has set up an event called “Hoboken Lepre-Con,” saying people should wear leprechaun outfits and come party on the first Saturday.
St. Patrick’s Day falls this year on the third Saturday of the month, so that may also be a partying day in the mile-square city.
Mayor Dawn Zimmer wanted the parade to be held on a weekday this year because the past few years, the Saturday parades have brought throngs of young partiers to the mile-square city. Last year, there were alleged sexual assaults and other mayhem. But the parade committee refused to move the parade to a weekday.
Zimmer has said that the city will hold its own St. Patrick’s Day observance.
Several Facebook pages have sprung up besides the Lepre-con site. One page that is actually older, “Hoboken St. Patrick’s Day 2012,” was started last summer to make sure people would still come party on the first Saturday even if the parade was moved. That page already has 1,876 people who said they’re coming and another 1,667 invited.
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