CHLORIDE — The town of Chloride has held it Mohave County exclusive Saint Patrick’s Day Parade with a record number of entries. The old silver‑mining town did it up ‘green’ with one of its signature celebrations. Each year, the town of fewer than 300 residents stages what locals proudly call the greatest St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the region.
Saint Patrick’s Day is traditionally associated with Irish heritage, and the mid‑1800s potato famine that sent waves of Irish immigrants to the United States. That history prompted a natural question for Chloride Chamber of Commerce President Cassi Hammond: were potatoes ever grown around Chloride?
“No potato farming in Chloride,” Hammond said. “We’re a mining town. This is a silver mining town dating back to the 1860s. At one time between the twenties and thirties, Chloride was a bustling town of over 2,500 people. It actually predates Kingman and Arizona statehood.”
Though often described as a “living ghost town,” Chloride holds the distinction of being Arizona’s longest continually inhabited community and home to the state’s longest‑operating post office. Visitors still gather for the bi‑weekly Saturday gunfights performed by the High Desert Drifters at Chloride Springs Village, a nod to the town’s frontier roots.
With its Old West character and tiny population, the idea of a St. Patrick’s Day parade might seem unexpected. But Hammond says the answer is simple.
“We don’t have any competition,” she said. “There’s nobody else that runs a Saint Patrick’s parade in the surrounding areas, so it works great for Chloride.”
And the town embraces it wholeheartedly. Green decorations line the streets, local restaurants and vendors join in, and even the dogs show up in festive attire. The parade has become a long‑running tradition, drawing residents and visitors alike.
“We are very, very excited for this year’s turnout,” Hammond said. “We have 38 entries into the parade this year, one of our biggest ever, and we are so excited to see all the horses here this year.”
As the final entries made their way down the parade route beneath the Cerbat Mountains, the celebration once again proved why Chloride’s St. Patrick’s Day parade remains one of the community’s most beloved events.
Story by Allen Scott. Photos by Vincent LeClair.
