In just about a month, the 16th annual Tonganoxie St. Patrick’s Day will wind its way through downtown, to the delight of Irish and near-Irish in the area.

“Everybody’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day,” said Debbie Breuer, who heads the organizing committee. “We are in search of participants for the parade. There’s no cost to join in.”

This year’s parading of the green will begin at 10 a.m. March 13, in keeping with the tradition of holding the parade on the Saturday before the March 17 holiday.

Kay Soetaert will be this year’s grand marshal, which also will include the Tonganoxie High School marching band, the Knights of Columbus, the Model A car club, fire and police vehicles, as well as other groups. Prizes will be awarded. The Tonganoxie Chamber of Commerce sponsors the parade each year.

Parade day also means that Chapter AT of PEO will celebrate with its annual corned beef and cabbage lunch at the Congregational Church, Fourth and Shawnee streets.

Along with the festivities, the Tonganoxie City Library plans to hold a used-book sale. Sharon Moreland, librarian, said the sale will be held on Friday and Saturday, with a Friends of the Library sale on Thursday. The specific hours of the sale will be announced later.

Prices of the books range from 25 cents for a paperback to $1 for a hard cover. And, Moreland said, toward the end of Saturday’s sale it’s likely prices will be reduced to $1 for a bag of books. Moreland welcomes donations of books for the sale. For more information, contact her at (913) 845-3281.

To enter the parade, call Breuer at (913) 845-0100. Although Breuer said she would like to know before parade day who will be in the parade, she emphasized that anyone is welcome to join — even at the last minute.

“The more the merrier,” she said.