St. Patrick's Day may be Wednesday, but local Irish enthusiasts are braving the rain to celebrate this weekend.

Apparently the luck of the Irish doesn't extend to the weather. Spitting rain and a 40 degree temperature couldn't stop Rochester's Irish spirit.

Hundreds of people lined parts of East Avenue and Main Street to enjoy Rochester's St. Patrick's Day parade.

As always it featured bagpipes and Irish dancing. But new this year: goats. The goats were part of the Genesee Brewery Float, which featured its one time a year bock beer.

"This year we wanted to do something special so we put together and float and we have live goats," said Jason Drewniak of Genesee Brewery. "If you notice on our can we have a goat on the can, so we wanted to bring the can to life. Thus we have goats and they have goat coats to keep them warm."

The parade also included visits from local politicians as well as firefighters and police.

One local pub opened its doors for ceilis (parties) as early as 8 a.m.

O'Callaghan's Pub on Monroe Avenue is celebrating its fifth anniversary, so the owners decided to get the party started early. The owner of the pub is celebrating a lineage of Irish tradition that dates back to 1925.

Tom O'Callaghan's grandparents on both sides came to America from Ireland, and one grandmother still owns a restaurant in Churchville.

He said, "Pretty much the whole family grew up working there."

O'Callaghan expected his restaurant to be full by noon. He says that in itself is cause for celebration.

"Just the fact that a bar/restaurant can make it to that point, that's the breaking point," O'Callaghan said. "They tend to fail within three to five years, so it's nice that we are past that now, and we're still progressing forward, so it's good."

There were many other activities on Saturday.

Johnny's Five-Mile Running of the Green race was Saturday morning, followed by the Celtic Family Fair.

Rochester St. Patrick's Day Parade