When the St. Patrick's Day Parade rolls down Greenville Avenue Saturday morning, an estimated 130,000 people are expected to pack the two-mile route. It's the fourth-largest St. Patrick's Day parade in the country.
"Everybody is cheering and yelling and screaming and smiling," said parade producer Mauricio Navarro. "It's intoxicating!"
Navarro spends a year planning for the big day.
"It's turning out to be one of my biggest favorite holidays," he said, smiling. "My father told me I'm about 3-percent Irish, so on this one day, that 3 percent turns into about 300 percent. I start thinking that I'm an O'Navarro."
Along Greenville Avenue Friday night, setup crews started their work as the sun started to set, putting up fencing, tables and barricades. After midnight, streets around Greenville Avenue will close.
"It's a lot of work and it's a lot of fun," said Peter Kenny, owner of The Dubliner, a pub on Lower Greenville. "There's five million people in Ireland and 30 million outside of Ireland, and on that day, everybody's Irish!"
Lower Greenville hosts the St. Patrick's Day Block Party.
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"It's always a great party," Kenny said.
Throughout the day, the Dallas Police Department will be watching over all the festivities along the parade route and Lower Greenville. Police say there are "no documented threats" towards the events, but urge people to be vigilant and report anything suspicious.
The parade starts at 11 a.m. Organizers urge spectators to take DART to the parade or use ridesharing.
Next year's St. Patrick's Day celebration in Dallas will take place on the actual holiday, March 17, 2018.
