St. Patrick’s Day Block Party returning to Wichita Falls after two years

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - The last time residents were able to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day was back in March of 2020 when COVID first broke out.

Fast forward to 2022, the St. Patrick’s Day Downtown Block Party is returning on Saturday, March 12. One downtown development official said it was placed on hold to protect residents.

“When COVID hit, it just kinda slowed things down,” John Dickinson, co-owner of the Iron Horse, said.

March of 2020 seemed like a roller coaster for Dickinson.

“It was pretty rough,” Dickinson said. “We were shut down three times and opened and we were opened three times and the last time we had to open as a restaurant.”

“It’s been obviously an impact on our organization,” Jana Schmader, executive director of Downtown Wichita Falls Development, said. “I will say we’re very fortunate that we continue to have supporters that understand that sometimes these decisions were out of our hands and we were always doing what was best for our community. We could have chosen to go forward, but it was all about safety first. It was all about keeping the public in mind.”

This year, St. Patrick’s Day will have a lawn chair affair where people are encouraged to bring their lawn chairs and enjoy music and food. In the morning, there’s a downtown 5K dash taking place. Dickinson said he’s all on board.

“Now the momentum is building again, it gets everyone in the community, the whole city to come down and see what’s coming out of it,” Dickinson said.

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