MORRIS– Young and old alike lined Liberty Street Saturday to watch the first St. Patrick’s Day parade in Morris, marking the end of the “Shop Lucky, Shop Morris” event.

The event hosted by the Morris Retail Association offers great discounts and spring inventory with participating locations offering scratch-off cards to collect with every purchase. Each shop had one winner.

Jane Kerr, owner of Apple Butter and Shugies, a local gift shop in Morris that offers everything from sports memorabilia to squishmallows, was grateful the shopping event was indoors but overall felt it had been “very positive and well-attended.”

Despite the frosty weather, locals were excited take part in the day’s events.

“It’s good to see everyone out and about today. It’s so cute, I love all the balloons and the decorations. The promotions that the stores are doing are wonderful. We are very excited about the upcoming parade,” said Brittany Sorensen of Morris.

The parade took off at 3 p.m. in the 100 block of West Washington Street and continued down Libery Street to Depot Street.

Led by whooping police and fire vehicles, the parade featured a number of units and marching contingents, highlighted by the Scottish Highlander pipers.

Unites hurled strands of green beads, goodie bags, and pieces of candy out to children who eagerly snatched them off the pavement.

The parade was awesome, they should absolutely bring it back next year,” said Colleen Daniell. Daniell and her sister Maureen Brannan from Braidwood have not been to a St. Patrick’s Day Parade since they were children and lived in Chicago.

" We stopped and ate, where normally would not . Today’s events really bring people to the downtown area. We normally come for the Christmas parade, but this was a great day to bring the people of Irish culture out to enjoy the events,” spoke Brannan.