Naples parade canceled over $40k security costs, future uncertain

NAPLES, Fla. - The Naples St. Patrick's Day Parade remains canceled for now, according to its website and Facebook page. However, there is still a possibility that this could change.

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As the community waits for answers, new security measures required for the parade have been outlined. The Naples Police Department recommended barricades along the entire parade route this year.

Images from the downtown Naples Christmas Parade, which follows a similar route, showed significant differences. In 2024, crowds blended into the parade route, but by 2025, barriers created a clearer separation between the crowds and cars.

The Naples St. Patrick Foundation reported that this new requirement increased their security fees by nearly $40,000 compared to last year.

Lt. Bryan McGinn, public information officer for the Naples Police Department, explained the reasons behind the changes.

"This is not an uncommon thing. It's just new to our specific area, and it has to do with the change of threats that we've seen in our culture, in our society, within the United States for the past several, five to 10 years," said McGinn.

"As prices go up for everything else, the safety security market does the same. So there's costs associated with these safety measures and those, those, really, those, those costs are the burden of the event organizers," said McGinn.

WINK News is still awaiting a response from the president of the Naples St. Patrick Foundation regarding potential changes to the parade's cancellation. We also reached out to the city of Naples for a breakdown of fees.