In Pictures: 40 photos from the Limerick City St Patrick's Day parade

AN estimated 50,000 people lined the streets of Limerick city on Friday to enjoy the festivities and embrace all that the Limerick St Patrick’s Day Parade had to offer.

The city's main thoroughfares were a cacophony of colour with 1,500 participants from over 40 community groups taking part.

This year’s parade was led by Grand Marshal, award winning actor Jon Kenny, who travelled the 1.6km route on the bicycle he regularly uses to cycle along the Limerick Greenway.

"Everyone was lovely, the atmosphere was great, and the enthusiasm of the crowd, it’s just so fantastic to see so many people out, enjoying themselves, taking part. It’s actually really interesting being in the parade because so many times I’ve been watching it from the side so it was lovely to get all that energy from the people directed at you. Really brilliant.”

In celebration of this year’s theme ‘Discover Limerick,’ the parade included a Viking invasion as some of Limerick’s “first residents” arrived in style on board a reconstruction of a 40-foot-long Viking long ship as featured in the hit TV series ‘Vikings’

They were flanked by rhythmic warriors The Hit Machine Drummers and Viking gymnasts from Southside Gymnastics Club.

Parade goers were treated to musical performances from a host of local bands as well as spectacles from visual artists Buí Bolg, Lumen Street Theatre’s 3 metre high Treaty Stone replica and Limerick Youth Dance Company’s bronzed dancers inspired by the city’s Singer from Quimper sculpture.

The Ukrainian PEACE Group featured 200 people singing, marching and performing as the parade sadly marked the plight the Ukrainian nation, impacted by the war, for a second year. The Ukrainian flag flew side by side with the Irish flag as they were paraded down the route.

In Pictures: 40 photographs from St Patrick's Day parades in towns and villages across Limerick

The winners in the Limerick city parade were:

Best Overall Performance – Scoil Uí Nualláin

Best Represents ‘Discover Limerick’ Theme – Southside Gymnastics Club

Best Community Award – Limerick Dragons

Best Creative Entry – Limerick Youth Dance Company Woman from Quimper Statue Dance

Best Youth Group – Limerick Youth Service

Best Musical Performance – St. Mary’s Fife and Drum Band

Judges Special Mention – Ukrainian PEACE Group