Parade Marshals
52nd Annual
St. Patrick's Day Parade in Seattle
12:30 pm, Saturday, March 11, 2023
2023 Grand Marshal
Neal Thompson

Neal Thompson, a dual US and Irish citizen through grandparents from Co. Galway, is an award-winning journalist and the author of six highly acclaimed nonfiction books, including The First Kennedys: The Humble Roots of an American Dynasty. Neal has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, Esquire, Outside, Men’s Health, Vanity Fair, the Wall Street Journal, and has appeared on NPR, PBS, The Daily Show, CNN, Fox, TNT, The History Channel, and ESPN. He lives in Seattle with his family.
 
After his grandparents emigrated from Co. Galway in the 1920s, they landed at Ellis Island, settled in New York City and later moved to New Jersey. His grandmother Bridget worked as a maid and later as a seamstress. She had changed her name to Della when she became a US citizen to avoid being called an "Irish Biddie." His grandfather, Patrick, was a Texaco truck driver who died of cancer in 1944, leaving Bridget to raise their four children in a New Jersey tenement. 

We are greatly honored to have Neal Thompson as Grand Marshal of the 2023 St. Patrick's Day Parade.
2023 Honorary Grand Marshal
Kip Toner

Kip Toner was born into a very Irish-Catholic family with all of his grandparents being born in the west of Ireland. By the time he graduated from Seattle University in 1965, he was already a business-partner of local Irish community icon Mick McHugh. Aged 18, the two opened a coffee/pizza and entertainment club in Pioneer Square, and later owned a motel, restaurant and bar in Bellevue.

Kip became Financial Aid Director and later Business Manager at Seattle University, and then became a benefits auctioneer, conducting benefit auctions for non-profits across the US. One of the nation’s premier benefit auctioneers, he has raised over one billion dollars for charities since 1975.

Kip was also involved in Seattle’s Irish community as an IHC member and as an officer and President of the Friends of St. Patrick where he helped initiate a Seattle University scholarship for students of Irish descent.

Kip is married to Claudia and they have five children: Erin, Cashel, Joseph, Anna, and Meghan. 

We are greatly honored to have Kip Toner as the 2023 Honorary Grand Marshal.
VISITING FROM GALWAY
Mayor of Galway
Clodagh Higgins

Galway Mayor Clodagh Higgins, the Mayor of Seattle’s Irish Sister City, has expressed delight in being able to visit Seattle and looks forward to meeting as many people as possible. This is her first ever visit to Galway’s sister city of Seattle and wants to acknowledge 37 years of formal ties between our two cities.

Mayor Higgins is just the ninth female Mayor of Galway on a list going back 539 years to 1484 when Galway first became a Mayoral City. She will attend events in Seattle on March 10-12 before returning to Galway for St. Patrick’s Day itself for her home city's big celebrations.

We wish her a hearty Céad Míle Fáilte from the Emerald Isle to the Emerald City of Seattle.