St. Patricks Day Parade

In January 1999, the brothers of the Father Kelley Division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians contemplated staging a St. Patrick’s Day Parade for the city of Manassas. We were very proud of our Irish heritage and wanted to share it with the community. The recent resurgence of interest in the Gaelic stream of Celtic culture is evidenced by the popularity of shows such as James Flatley's Riverdance and Lord of the Dance, as well as popular books such as Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes. We worked the next 15 months to put on the Inaugural Manassas St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 18, 2000.

Providing a great deal of support to our efforts were our Fraternal Brother in the George Brent Council 5332, Knights of Columbus. George Brent Counciol opened its Council Home and checkbook to us in order for this to be a successful event. We share our success with our Brother Knights, who were with us from the start of this endeavor.

Due to the overwhelming support from the community and the success of the inaugural parade, we incorporated as a nonprofit organization for future parades. In 2001 we held our second annual parade on March 17, 2001. The third parade was held on March 16,2002, the fourth was held on March 15, 2003 and the fifth on March 13, 2004.

We took the name Inisfail from the ancient, pre-Christian name for Ireland that signifies Isle of Destiny. This was the name for Ireland at the time when the Milesians invaded Ireland from Spain and blended their Celtic stream with the existing Celtic inhabitants to develop the Gaelic culture. Future invasions from the Vikings, Normans, and the English, who to this day still occupy a portion of Ireland, could not suppress the Gaelic culture that we celebrate today.

We in Inisfail thank you for your support of our parade and hope that you have a great time.

2009 Inisfail inc. Board of Directors

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