It was easy to tell it was St. Patrick’s Day in Biddeford on Wednesday, when the Irish tricolor was hoisted over the city, carrying on a tradition that goes back many years. Tammy Wells Photo

BIDDEFORD —The Irish flag flew over Biddeford on St. Patrick’s Day in 2021, carrying on a tradition that goes back many decades.

Resident Vincent Keely hoists the Irish flag up the flag pole at City Square in Biddeford on St. Patrick’s Day 2021. Tammy Wells Photo

The green, white and orange tricolor was hoisted up the flagpole by Vincent Keely, who emigrated to The United States from Ireland in 1960. He and others  walked with family members and friends from the Wonderbar on Washington Street up Main Street to City Square, where they were greeted  by a contingent of others —  kids and adults, all decked out in green. There were hugs and handshakes and then, silently, Keely sent the flag up the flagpole. The crowd cheered as it reached the top and unfurled into the air in the sunshine.

A procession makes its way up Main Street to City Square, adjacent to Biddeford City Hall, on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, where they stopped to hoist the Irish flag. Tammy Wells Photo

A clipping from the Journal Tribune in 1962 shows the flag flew over the city on St. Patrick’s Day that year as well and noted the city had the oldest chartered chapter of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish Catholic fraternal organization, in Maine.

In 1969, the tricolor flew over the mayor’s office, according to the Journal Tribune.

The Irish tricolor flew over Biddeford on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2021, in a tradition that goes back many years. Tammy Wells Photo