It didn't matter if you were from Waimanalo and here mostly to show off your midnight-black 1962 Corvette.

It didn't matter if your only claim to the day was a T-shirt that read "Kiss Me I'm Irish."

It didn't matter if you were young or old.

Yesterday in Waikiki, everyone was, well, 'ohana.

On a gray and humid day, hundreds wore the green for the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade.

More than 750 marchers, including Celtic Pipes and Drums Hawaii, the Royal Hawaiian Band and the Damien Memorial School band, stepped in time along Kalakaua Avenue.

Locals and visitors lined the street.

Dignitaries were there, such as Mayor Mufi Hannemann, and University of Hawai'i athletic director Jim Donovan was the designated Irishman of the Year.

Jack Sullivan, himself the patron saint of soccer on O'ahu, came as a green-tongued leprechaun. Why the green tongue? "Because people notice you," Sullivan said.

Naturally, St. Patrick's School gave the kids the afternoon off to march.

"We always have a great time," said Reynolds Higa of Waimanalo, a member of the Hawaii Corvette Club, which participates in the parade every year. "They always treat us good, and it's a chance for us to show off our cars."

Higa was there with his wife, Pua.

St. Patrick himself (actually Ed Gavigan of Kane'ohe) blessed the crowds and spun tales of his predecessor in the parade, who has since returned to Ireland.

"He always told me the most important thing was to outdrink everyone else," Gavigan said. "Luckily, I can't do that."

Sheila O'Shea, a visitor from Killarney, Ireland, said times are tough at home these days, with unemployment near 10 percent.

But on this day, nothing mattered except having fun, she said.

"We're Irish," she said, "and we love to party."