Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion is set to be this year's grand marshal of Toronto's St. Patrick's Day parade, which drew close to half a million people to the city last year.
One of the longest-serving mayor's in the city's history, 89-year-old McCallion has been chosen as the grand marshal because she represents a large amount of people of Irish descent in Mississauga, parade chair Patrick Canavan says.
"The parade itself is not just for people in Toronto but the Greater Toronto Area - we have participants from across the GTA," he says.
"We've had grand marshals from Ireland and Toronto – and this particular year we thought we'd be going out into the GTA to find somebody."
McCallion has already been honoured at a Grand Marshal Ball over the weekend, where she took to the dance floor, Canavan says.
The mayor says she wants to join and celebrate with the Irish people during the 23rd annual parade, which takes place on Sunday, March 14.
"I think it's great that they're having a parade to promote their culture," she told CP24.com.
McCallion's husband, Sam, was of Irish descent and she spoke of the contributions the Irish have made to building Mississauga and the province at the ball.
The parade has been a long-standing tradition in the city, and Canavan says they are attempting to attract more young people to the event to keep the tradition going.
"We have an aging population to a degree, and we are now really pushing for the second generation -- our kids -- to participate," he says.
About 2,000 participants are expected to take part this year. Canavan says diversity has been key to the parade's success, as it contains Chinese, Portuguese and Polish contingents.
The parade begins at noon with the procession starting from Bloor and St. George Streets, and will continue along Bloor Street down Yonge Street and finish on Queen Street at Nathan Phillips Square.
For more information on Toronto's St. Patrick's Day parade, visit their website.
