Tradition marches on with St. Patrick's Day parades across N.J.

"Hoboken's St. Patrick's Day Parade, which steps off at 1 p.m. Saturday at Washington and 14th streets, is the first of 25 St. Patrick's Day parades in New Jersey, covering all corners of the state and every weekend in March.

It's not surprising, especially since New Jersey boasts the first St. Patrick's Day celebration ever in the United States, and because the more than 1.3 million New Jerseyans of Irish descent make up more than 15 percent of the state's population.

'The tradition of having the St. Patrick's parade in Morris County goes to 1780, when George Washington, encamped at Jockey Hollow in Morristown, gave his troops a day off for St. Patrick's Day,' said William Quinn, grand marshal of the Morris County St. Patrick's Day Parade in Morristown."

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