Irish expats in Prague grew a small St. Patrick’s parade into a festival drawing thousands

Darragh Price arrived in Prague one day before the borders closed in March 2020. What was supposed to be a chapter became a life.

Six years on, his children attend Czech schools, speak the language fluently, and have grown up knowing Prague as home.

"It’s a fantastic city to live in. I think many Irish people who spend time here would agree that the quality of life in Prague is exceptional. It’s a beautiful, comfortable city and we feel very lucky to live here," he told us.

His story is not unusual among the city’s estimated 1,200 to 1,500 Irish residents who have become rooted in Czech life since the Celtic Tiger years, when many first came to Prague seeking business opportunities.

"More young professionals, entrepreneurs, and families are now settling here long-term rather than just coming for short stays," says Price, the spokesperson for the Czech-Irish Business and Cultural Association (CIBCA), which organizes the city's annual Irish Times Bar St. Patrick's Day festival beginning today.

Many of them will be in attendance for this weekend's festival unfolding across several days of theatre, music, family events, and, at its centrepiece, a parade through the historic city center. The route runs from Wenceslas Square at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 15.

This year’s festival is the most ambitious yet. It opens on Friday evening with a traditional Céilí at the Emauzy Abbey hall in Prague 2 with live music and dancing.

On Saturday, an Irish cast travels specially to Prague to perform John B. Keane’s classic comedy “Moll” at Divadlo 21 in Vinohrady, bringing a taste of Irish theatre to Central Europe.

Sunday begins with a Kids Céilí and craft workshop at Duplex on Wenceslas Square, before the parade takes over the afternoon. After the procession reaches Náměstí Republiky, a free public after-party with live Celtic performances rounds out the celebration into the evening.

Later in the week, a Guinness pop-up at Holešovická Tržnice marks St. Patrick’s Day itself on March 17, and the festival closes with a gala charity dinner on March 21.

The festival is just one of the ways in which CIBCA has been strengthening the cultural and business ties between the two countries for thirty years.

"We wanted to give something back to the local community as well as celebrate Irish culture," says Price.

While St. Patrick's Day is its most visible event, the association is active throughout the year with business networking events, cultural initiatives, community gatherings, and charity fundraising, this year on behalf of Acorus, an organization that works with victims of domestic violence.

"The partnership came about through local contacts, and once we learned more about their work, it felt like a very meaningful cause to support through the Gala Dinner."

Despite CIBCA's year-round activities, St. Patrick's festival remains its most visible event. And the growth of the parade has been significant. Revived after the pandemic years, around a hundred people turned out, enough, Price jokes, to make it look more like a protest march than a celebration.

By 2025, that figure had climbed to roughly a thousand participants. This year, organizers expect to surpass it again, with Larry the Leprechaun and a fleet of large inflatables joining the procession for the first time.

The events has grown well beyond the Irish community itself. Czech families, international residents and curious passers-by have all become part of the spectacle, drawn in by the color, the music, and a very Irish sense of goodwill that seems to defy language barriers.

“At first many people stop and scratch their heads wondering what event it is,” Price says. “And then they quickly realize it’s the St. Patrick’s Day parade. There’s a huge appetite for Irish culture in Czechia, which surprises us every year.”

For the Irish families living in Czechia, the festival is a place to find one another.

“Every year we meet Irish families who have lived in Czechia for years but had never really connected with the wider community before,” he says. “The parade often becomes that small push that encourages people to come out, take part and get involved.”

“There’s a strong sense that Irish people abroad look out for one another.”

For Price, who watches his bilingual children grow up between two cultures, St. Patrick’s Day abroad carries a weight that it never quite had back home.

"It’s a wonderful way for our children to stay connected with Ireland as they grow up, because back home," he says but adds that seeing people in Prague, the Irish, Czech and international, celebrating together is particularly special.

“Prague might be thousands of kilometres from Ireland,” Price says, “but for one weekend every March, the city turns a little bit Irish.”

The Irish Times Bar St. Patrick’s Day Festival runs March 13–21, 2026 across Prague. The parade departs Wenceslas Square at 14:30 on Sunday, March 15. See the full program at cibca.cz.