The town in the park will leave all others green with envy as it prepares to illuminate in emerald shades for the upcoming St Patrick’s Day celebrations.

A colourful and gala parade is being lined up for March 17 but that’s not where the fun will begin and end as the St Patrick’s Festival committee is planning a truly spectacular return of the national day celebrations.

Plans are underway to turn many of the town’s iconic buildings a fabulous shade of green in the days leading up to and for the week after St Patrick’s Day and the spotlight will fall on Ross Castle, St Mary’s Cathedral, the Franciscan Friary, Killarney Courthouse, Killarney’s Methodist Church, St Mary’s Church of Ireland and the town’s feature statues and monuments.

Many of the local shops, hotels and business premises will all join in the fun by lighting up their buildings and workplaces in the most amazing shades of green while, this year, private households are also planning to turn green as Killarney well and truly emerges from two years of lockdown.

Festival Chairman, Paul Sherry, is encouraging everybody to play a part in celebrating the big occasion and he said businesses that don’t already own colour changing lighting systems can hire the equipment locally for a small fee.

The theme for this year’s parade is Earth/An Chré and it will be a celebration of the planet we occupy, the ground that sustains us and the world we live in.

“We are putting the call out to everybody to celebrate St Patrick’s Day in Killarney like we have never done before,” Paul Sherry said.

“Let’s make sure that if there is life in outer space, they can see Killarney shining bright and green on planet Earth.

“It is so amazing to be back and after having to endure so much yellow with COVID signs for the last two years, what a difference it will make to be able to embrace the green once again,” he added.

The people of Killarney are being encouraged to light up their windows, doors, buildings or premises and post a photograph on social media using the hashtag #letsgogreenkillarney.

There is a special competition to find the best greened building and the judges will be out night after night to monitor progress and to see the effort that is being made.

Mr Sherry said the committee is very grateful for the ongoing support from sponsors locally and for the continued commitment of Kerry County Council, Fáilte Ireland and Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce.