![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/St-Patricks-Day-Belfast.jpg\" "\\"St")
<\/a>A colourful parade will leave City Hall at 12pm on Saturday, March 17, and make its way through the streets to Custom House Square where a free concert will see a host of top class acts entertaining the crowds.\nFormer X-Factor contestant Sophie Habibis will top the bill alongside the world-class Red Hot Chilli Pipers, bands Ashelin and Shake, traditional music group Pure Blarney and dancers from the Royal Tara School of Irish Dancing and Bright Lights Ulster Scots dance school.<\/p>\n
Launching the St Patrick\u2019s Day programme today, Lord Mayor of Belfast Councillor Niall \u00d3 Donnghaile said it promised to be a fun-filled family day out.
\nHe added: \u201cThe theme of this year\u2019s event is \u20182012 \u2013 one amazing year\u2019. Belfast is in for a massive year of celebrations and important milestones and this will be the city\u2019s first big party of 2012.
\n\u201cThe carnival parade is something people look forward to every year; the imaginative costumes and colourful floats, not to mention the great street entertainment. And of course the free concert in Custom House Square has a great line-up that will appeal to all ages. It\u2019s set to be a great day out for all the family and I hope everyone comes along and joins in the craic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sophie Habibis said she was delighted at being asked to be part of the city\u2019s St Patrick\u2019s Day celebrations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll be my first visit to Belfast and I\u2019m so looking forward to performing at Custom House Square; it\u2019s going to be such good fun. I\u2019ve heard that there\u2019s a real buzz about the city so I can\u2019t wait to experience that,\u201d said Sophie.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great to be on the road doing what I love most and to be part of Belfast\u2019s St Patrick\u2019s Day celebrations is a huge honour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hosting this year\u2019s concert in Custom House Square will be DJ Pete Snodden and the Cool Crew.<\/p>\n
Pete said: \u201cWe can\u2019t wait for this year\u2019s celebrations \u2013 the atmosphere is always electric and the craic is great.\u201d<\/p>\n
The parade, which has been organised by The Beat Carnival, will leave City Hall at 12 noon and make its way to Custom House Square where performers will be on stage from 1pm-3pm. Please note:-<\/p>\n The concert is free and admission is on a first come, first served basis. Gates will open at 12 noon and under 16s must be accompanied by an adult. No alcohol will be sold or permitted on the site and standard Belfast City Council terms and conditions apply.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Belfast\u2019s St Patrick\u2019s Day celebrations will have the \u2018X\u2019 factor this year with a massive line up of music, dancing and street entertainment that will bring the city to life. A colourful parade will leave City Hall at 12pm on Saturday, March 17, and make its way through the streets to Custom House Square where … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3933"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3933"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3937,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3933\/revisions\/3937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nFor more information on the event and all the acts taking part visit www.belfastcity.gov.uk\/events<\/a><\/p>\n