St. Patrick and Gen. Zhang to be honored with parades in Philly

Sunday will be marked by two parades in Philadelphia, one celebrating St. Patrick's Day, another as part of a Buddhist celebration in Chinatown.

The St. Patrick's parade will begin at 11:30 a.m. just west of 16th Street on JFK Boulevard and wind through Center City.

The procession will head east on JFK to 16th, then north on 16th to the Parkway. It then will go northwest to the north side of Eakins Oval, where there will be a reviewing stand.

To accommodate the parade, the following streets will be closed to motor-vehicle traffic: JFK Boulevard between 16th and 20th Street from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; 16th from Market Street to the Parkway from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; the Parkway from 16th to Eakins Oval from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Additional police will be assigned to the area to expedite vehicle and pedestrian traffic.

Chinatown will feature the Ho Yu parade. The annual parade is a Buddhist celebration marking the birthday of Gen. Zhang, who 1,100 years ago opened the port city of Fuzhou to the world, organizers of the parade said.

Organizers said the parade would begin at 1 p.m. and run until about 3. It will start at the gate at 10th and Arch Streets and move west on Arch to 11th Street. It will proceed north on 11th to Race Street and east to 1026 Race, where it will end.

One aspect of the St. Patrick's Day celebrations is drawing criticism from City Councilwoman Joan Krajewski. The Sixth District councilwoman, who is of Irish descent on her mother's side, said that T-shirts sold by Spencer's Gifts novelty stores insulted Irish people.

She singled out slogans on some of the shirts, such as "Instant Irishman: Just Add Alcohol" and "Irish Today: Hung Over Tomorrow," and others that contain obscenities.

Kevin Mahoney, general counsel for Spencer's Gifts, based in Egg Harbor Township, N.J., said that while he respected the concerns of Krajewski and others, the chain would not stop selling the items.

"I have investigated and nearly every retailer that sells T-shirts . . . sells those types of shirts because they view those shirts as in keeping with the humor and spirit of the Irish people. We certainly don't mean for the shirts to be derogatory, but that is part of the Irish culture and humor."