Participants from Crazy Frogs Bar and Grill enjoy the festivities. The restaurant featured two separate floats in the event and has been a longtime participant of the parade.[/caption]

An annual event that brings together the Spring and Klein communities, the 37th annual 1960 St. Patrick's Day Parade on March 15 drew as many as 100,000 residents to FM 1960, according to parade officials.

More than 120 floats made their way through the 3.5-mile route from Champion Forest Drive to the Concert Pub North at FM 1960 and Kuykendahl Road.

"There were as many people or more than I have ever seen," Parade Committee Chairman Jeff Doran said.

Doran said what started as a group of neighbors cruising FM 1960 in their convertibles decades ago has grown over the years in both participants and spectators, with 81 parade entries this year.

"Outside of the people that enter it, there are family members who have been watching it for years," he said.

Barbara Thomason, president of the Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber had a large representation of members in the parade.

"It's great that we have one of the largest [St. Patrick's Day parades] in the country," Thomason said. "I think it's primarily an opportunity for the community to come out and rally and have fun."

The St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee raised more than $20,000 through the parade for scholarships, said Doran, who is also the president-elect for Cypress Creek Emergency Medical Services, said

"The money goes to help individuals that are already EMTs or want to take a paramedic class," he said. "It helps with expenses like uniforms and textbooks."