Last year’s St. Patrick’s Parade in Pawtucket made its way along South Bend Street. This year’s Pawtucket parade is set for Saturday, rain or shine.

Journal files Ruben W. Perez

St. Patrick’s Day isn’t merely a day in Rhode Island, but a month. This state has four parades over the next three weekends. None are on duplicate days. So you can see them all.

Here they are, in chronological order.

Pawtucket

The parade is Saturday at noon, and will go on regardless of weather conditions. It begins at Jenks Junior High School on Division Street, turns on to Walcott Street and then Roosevelt Avenue, ending at Pawtucket City Hall. The parade, now in its 27th year, covers a little more than a mile and lasts about two hours. It involves 10 marching bands and several civic organizations. The grand marshal is Col. Brendan Doherty, superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police. The Rev. Joseph Paquette of St. Teresa’s Church in Pawtucket plays the role of St. Patrick.

Directly after the parade, there’s a post-parade party at the Pawtucket Armory. There will be food, beverages and Irish items for sale. And there will be music by the Tom Lanigan Band. Admission is $2, children younger than 12 accompanied by an adult are admitted free.

Newport

The Newport parade is Saturday, March 14. It steps off at 11 a.m. in front of Newport City Hall and proceeds through Washington Square and along Thames Street to Carroll Avenue and stops at St. Augustine’s Church in the heavily Irish “Fifth Ward” district of the city. The parade, in its 53rd year, will last about two hours and involve 10 pipe bands, a dozen marching bands, four fife-and-drum corps, three clown units, seven re-enactment units and numerous civic organizations.

Kathleen “Kiki” Finn, a native Newporter who has been involved with many civic organizations including the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Newport Irish Heritage Association, is the grand marshal.

West Warwick

The parade is Sunday, March 15. It steps off at 1 p.m. and lasts about two hours. The parade starts at the intersection of Route 117 and Washington Street and goes down Washington Street to Main Street and to the Town Hall. There are 10 marching bands and many civic organizations participating in the parade. The grand marshal is Attorney General Patrick Lynch.

Providence

The parade is Saturday, March 20. It steps off at noon at the intersection of Elmhurst Avenue and Smith Street and continues up Smith Street to the State House. The parade, which is expected to last about two hours, involves 2,000 participants, about seven pipe bands, half a dozen marching bands and anywhere from 6 to 12 floats. The grand marshal is James Carr, president of Carr Construction. The deputy grand marshal (and next year’s grand marshal) is Ed Cooney, vice president and treasurer of Nortek, Inc., in Providence.

A new component to the parade this year is a pre-parade 5K road race, which begins and ends at the State House. The race starts at 11:30 a.m.; Smith Street will be closed beginning at 10:30 a.m. To register for the race, visit stpats5k.com. The race is restricted to 3,000 entrants; so far 1,500 have registered.