First St. Patrick's Day Parade

Galway’s first St. Patrick’s Day Parade took place in 1903. Businesses voluntarily closed on March 17th 1903 as a campaign led by Conradh na Gaeilge sought to make the day a national holiday. The Forster Street Band played for the procession, (as the parade was known in 1903) and hundreds turned out for the Patron saints day. The Government recognised the National Holiday a few years later.

By 1906 the Forster Street band had become St. Patricks Fife and drum Band and it was well established in a premises on the present site at Frenchville Lane. That year the Band sought a gate through the Military Pass from the Department of Defence London at its premises to shorten the journey to the Bandroom from Forster Street as Frenchvill lane was a convoluted passageway.

By January 1909 The Galway Express reported: "...This band has been pronounced one of the best of its kind in the province..." The paper also noted that a large addition had been made to the band premises to accommodate the large number of men in the band.