DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — A city in South Florida has become the first to publicly drop a beloved, decades-old tradition in the name of compliance with Florida's new anti-DEI law, and residents are not happy about it.
The City of Delray Beach announced it will not host its annual St. Patrick's Day Parade or its Pride Festival in 2027, citing Florida Senate Bill 1134, which takes effect January 1. The law bars local governments from spending public dollars to fund or promote activities the state defines as diversity, equity and inclusion — a definition that includes events organized around ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity.
City officials said they reviewed the law and concluded they are legally prohibited from organizing, funding or promoting either event next year.
The St. Patrick's Day Parade has been a Delray Beach fixture since 1968; the city and its fire department took over hosting duties in 2019, according to CBS12. The cancellation affects a tradition that brings tens of thousands of people to Atlantic Avenue each March.
"It's ridiculous. Why would they cancel it? It's just, it's beyond anything we can imagine," Delray Beach resident Kenny Moskowitz, a police volunteer, told WPBF 25. He estimated the parade draws 50,000 to 60,000 people and delivers a mid-season boost to local businesses.
Mayor Tom Carney said Tuesday on social media that the city is working to preserve the parade after receiving a flood of emails and calls from residents. He told CBS12 that potential sponsors and an event organizer have expressed interest but have not committed to paying for or running it. He said an outside group could take over the parade with private funding and a special event permit, and that he would also support a privately funded Pride Festival.
At Tim Finnegan's Irish Pub on Atlantic Avenue, owner Lisa Walsh told CBS12 the parade is one of the biggest days of the year for business — a tradition her customers have passed down through generations.
Rand Hoch, president and founder of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, told CBS12 the Pride Festival gives the local LGBTQ community a chance to gather and celebrate with family and friends. He noted that an outside organizer would have to raise money for costs the city typically helps cover.
The New York Post flagged the cancellations on X, drawing national attention to the story: "Florida city cancels St. Patrick's Day Parade, Pride event over DEI law - outraging locals."
Backers of SB 1134, signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, argue it simply requires grant recipients to certify that public funds will not be used to advance DEI initiatives and creates penalties for officials who violate it. Civil rights advocates counter that diversity programs address historic inequities for marginalized groups. Some residents questioned why a St. Patrick's Day parade — a celebration of Irish heritage — would fall under the law at all.
"I really don't understand why they would put this in a DEI type of thing," resident Johnny Henegar told CBS12.
Another resident, Randy Biro, asked WPBF 25: "Are they going to cancel the Christmas parade as well?"
It is not yet known whether Delray Beach will reach an agreement with a private organizer in time for March 2027, or whether other Florida cities will follow with similar cancellations.
Our Take
Here's the thing, folks: nobody in Tallahassee wrote a bill to kill a parade celebrating Ireland's patron saint. Senate Bill 1134 was aimed at stopping government agencies from spending taxpayer dollars to promote ideology — not at banning shamrocks, bagpipes or a 58-year-old community tradition that packs Atlantic Avenue every March.
The city of Delray Beach read the statute, threw up its hands and canceled a parade that has nothing to do with DEI hiring quotas or ideological training. Then it pointed the finger at the state and created a public outcry — and now the mayor is scrambling to fix a problem his own staff created.
This is what bureaucrats do when they want to make a law look bad: they apply it as broadly and as dramatically as possible, then let the headlines do the work. If the city truly cannot figure out how to issue a permit for a privately funded Irish heritage parade, that says more about City Hall than it does about the law.
The mayor says he's working "feverishly" to save it — good. But it never should have taken an angry mob of residents to get there.
Patriots, keep your eyes on your own city councils. When you hear "the law made us do it," ask how, ask where in the text, and ask who benefits from the cancellation. Because there is no part of Florida's anti-DEI statute that requires a town to cancel St. Patrick's Day — unless someone at City Hall wants it that way.
