BATON ROUGE - The 41st Wearing of the Green St. Patrick's Day Parade rolled through the Garden District at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 14.

The annual tradition draws tens of thousands of people to Baton Rouge.

Parade day starts hours early, with the Shamrock Run. The 5k draws hundreds of runners. Juliet Brophy has participated every year since its start in 2019.

"I think it's really fun. The reason I come every year is because it has some of the best crowd support of any of the races I've ever run before. I also think it has great participation prizes," said Brophy.

Runners, like Amy Hall, said the race gets bigger and better every year.

"I think the first year we did it, people who were setting up for the parade were shocked that there were people running in the streets," said Hall.

This year's Grand Marshal was Weather Channel Meteorologist Jim Cantore.

Along Perkins Road, under the overpass, thousands of people lined the route.

That's where Blaize Romancik set up his food truck, Big Cheezy. Romancik said the parade is a big economic boost for local businesses like his.

"This is one of Baton Rouge's best days of the year that's not a home football game. For us, it's a great day to make some money," said Romancik.

Overall, people said the day is about coming together.