Parades for Irish Nation and Alcohol

One hundred years ago today … The July 4th holiday was the hottest day of the year so far in NYC. It was marked by parades advocating for the repeal of Prohibition and an Irish State independent from England.

The Free Ireland Parade, organized by the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic, set off at 9:45 a.m. from 8th Street and 5th Avenue, following the Avenue up to Central Park, entering the park and ending at Sheep’s Meadow. The Times reported that “there were fifty bands in the procession,” and notes (with approval?) that “British and jazz music were prohibited.” (“Multitude Parades for Irish Republic,” New York Times, 5 July 1921, p. 3.)

Mayor John Hylan saw it from the stand at 26th Street and 5th Avenue. Hylan then stuck around to view the anti-dry demonstration, which was the parade he termed "a splendid outburst of the city's democratic spirit." The parade set off shortly after 2 p.m. and marched up Fifth Avenue from Washington Square Park to 60th Street. The New York Herald mused: “Yesterday’s anti-prohibition parade in Fifth Avenue fell far short of the predicted host of marchers, but the fact that anybody at all was willing to tramp those two and half miles of gummy asphalt on the afternoon of the summer suggested the presence in New York of a goodly number of persons whose thirst is indeed a terrible thing. (“Thirsty Thousands in Dry Act Protest ‘Hike” Despite Heat,” New York Herald, 5 July 1921, p. 1.)

A cartoon in the News matched the above report.

The anti-Prohibition protesters carried signs of all sorts.

– Jonathan Goldman, July 4, 2021

TAGS: holidays, Volstead, prohibition, Ireland, Irish, parade, protest, demonstration, jazz, marching bands