The Oslo St Patrick’s Day Association was founded in 2000 by Irish expatriates living in Norway. The Association is both non-political and non-denominational and aims to organise a St Patrick’s Day celebration each year in Oslo.

The Association is voluntary and non-profit making and is thus dependent on sponsorship in order to run the St Patrick’s Day event. Sponsors are acknowledged on our website and on promotional literature which we issue in connection with the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Sponsors are also invited to participate in our events. New sponsors are always welcome and potential sponsors are invited to contact the Association at oslostpats@hotmail.com

The Association organises a number of fundraising events each year. To date, these have been quiz nights (halfway to St Patrick’s Day and three quarter way to St Patrick’s Day or close enough).
We try as far as possible to invite as many interested people as we can. If you are not on our mailing list please send us an e-mail with your contact information to oslostpats@hotmail.com.
Ideas and volunteers for new fundraising events are always welcome. Although we appreciate the fundraising aspect, it is always nice for us all to get together to enjoy each others’ company.

The highlight of the year of course is the Oslo St. Patrick’s Day parade which is held on a weekend as close as possible to the day itself. We get the opportunity to have our own “17th May” by marching down Oslo’s main street, Karl Johans gate, watched by appreciative Norwegians. The parade is a day for all the family and all friends to express their Irishness or their appreciation of Ireland. As with all St Patrick’s Day celebrations throughout the world, the connection to Ireland may be close or distant, but everyone is welcome to be Irish for the day at least.

From its start the parade has continued to grow in size and now includes a pipe band,  musicians and dancers, leprechauns and other strange creatures, wolfhounds and the venerable St Patrick himself. As well as locally based Irish, Norwegian friends of Ireland, and friends of every nationality, we now see many visitors from Ireland and elsewhere making their way to Norway to enjoy the parade.

We use the parade also to promote Irish cultural activities and we encourage any groups engaged in Irish or Irish-related cultural activities to contact us!.