PICTURES: Local Tipperary town hosts successful St Patrick's Day parade awards night

The awards ceremony for the Thurles St Patrick's Day parade took place recently, honouring the winning participants from the parade held on March 17.

The overall winner at the parade was Community Panto, with Clonoulty Rossmore taking home the award for best large float, ahead of Cormackstown Heritage Centre in second.

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The best small float award went to the Men’s Shed, with Dwan Academy coming in second.

The best walking group award was won by Peake Villa FC, with Evelyn McCormack winning the award for best individual.

The special award was won by An Puc ar Buile (Sinead Brennan Music School), with Donie Scally winning the best environmental award.

Healthy Haven won the award for best dressed window ahead of SuperValu, with Bookworm winning the award for best traditional window ahead of NCBI.

The parade festivities began on Abbey Road, with live music getting underway in the early afternoon to keep parade-goers entertained, building excitement for what was to come.

At 2:30pm, the parade began making its way towards the centre of the town.

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Chairperson Evelyn Nevin welcomed the large crowd to Thurles, thanking all of the event sponsors, and speaking of how lucky those in attendance were that the rain had held up for the afternoon.

Among those also in attendance on the judge's stand were Tipperary TD Michael Lowry, Tipperary County Councillors Micheál Lowry, Peggy Ryan, Sean Ryan and Kay Cahill Skehan, Archbishop Kieran O'Reilly, and The Arch Bar's Dee Hayes, who received a special round of applause from the crowd for the Hayes family's continued contributions to Thurles life.

Dozens of floats paraded through the town, with the likes of town sports clubs Thurles Sarsfields, Thurles Gaels, Peake Villa and Thurles RFC all being represented on the day.

Thurles Men's Shed sent a display filled with items from the Shed, while Thurles Musical Society came to promote their upcoming performance of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'.

Crowds thoroughly enjoyed the festivities, as the wait for the parade's return next year begins.