NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan. 23, 2026
For more information:
venturastpatricksdayparade.com
Tel. 805-746-5999
Catch the Spirit of St. Patrick on Parade!
Leprechauns inspire 2026 County Ventura St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 14
VENTURA, California – Sure and begorrah, it’s that time again! With the winter holidays a wrap, County Ventura is gearing up for its annual St. Patrick’s Day parade. Presented by Downtown Ventura, the 2026 parade will commence at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 14, and will run along a three-quarter-mile route down Main Street in the heart of Ventura.
For those who’d like to take part in the parade, the time to sign up is rapidly approaching! Joining is simple, so start planning your entry now as the registration website will go live on Feb. 1, at venturastpatricksdayparade.com/registration; follow the basic steps to submit forms and pay online. The entry fee is $50, with a 100-entry limit. The deadline for entries is Thursday, March 5. Parade entrants compete for awards presented by a panel of judges led by St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee member James Lockwood.
“Catch the Leprechaun Spirit!” is this year’s whimsical parade theme, capturing the magic and essence of this festive holiday that heralds the coming of spring and celebrates all that is good and fun and green.
One of the county’s most popular community events, the decades-old St. Patrick’s Day parade draws a crowd of thousands, who come out in their greenest finery for a lively day along the parade route. Lining Main Street from Aliso Lane to Fir Street, spectators can watch and wave to the always entertaining entrants as they march down the street in front of them.
Beyond Fir and heading downtown, the party continues after the parade, with a street fair and lots of restaurants serving up great food, drink and bargains to the crowds who swarm the auto-free downtown area.
This year’s parade grand marshal is community superstar Brian Brennan.
If anyone embodies the leprechaun spirit, it’s Brennan. Kind, joyous and generous, this much beloved hometown hero represents the good, the fun and the green in all of us – and the Irish! The first County Ventura St. Patrick’s Day Parade grand marshal in recent memory to actually hail from the old sod, Brennan was born in Ireland and lived there till he was 8, when his parents moved him and his three siblings to California.
“Brian might be the closest to a leprechaun of any other grand marshal in our history,” said Jim Monahan, a former grand marshal and a longtime friend and colleague of Brennan’s.
For all his Irish, Brennan has for decades been wholly dedicated to his California coastal hometown. A former Ventura mayor and four-term city councilmember, he has served his city locally, regionally and statewide in many and varied ways. He was Governor Jerry Brown’s appointee to the California Coastal Commission along with serving on the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Advisory Council as an appointee of EPA administrator and former New Jersey Governor Christie Todd Whitman, for his work advancing the Hydrogen Highway.
Brennan also is a longtime co-chair and coordinator of the County Ventura St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee. Composed of esteemed community leaders, the parade committee is currently opening its collective arms to Brennan, who will join the rare ranks of Monahan and Nan Drake, fellow committee members and former Ventura city councilmembers who have served as parade grand marshals.
For answers to parade entry questions, call Brennan at 805-746-5999 or committee member Aaron Gaston at 805-340-8217. For other parade info, call Monahan at 805-340-1356 or visit the parade website, at venturastpatricksdayparade.com.
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Photos by Brendan Daly / WhizCom Marketing
Images from last year's County Ventura St. Patrick's Day Parade offer a glimpse at the fun ahead on March 14 along Main Street in Ventura.
