Loud protests, frigid temps and a boycott by Guinness couldn’t stop the pluck of the Irish in Manhattan on Monday.
Thousands of revelers packed the world’s largest St. Patrick’s Day parade, thumbing their noses at the 25-degree weather and outcry over the organizers’ anti-gay policy.
“Despite the cold, despite if it even snowed, you have to come to New York City for the parade, it’s St. Patrick’s Day!’’ said Andrea Frese, 21, of Vernon, NJ. “I don’t care if the mayor didn’t show. I’m still going to be here.”
The Fifth Avenue parade, which featured flame-haired dancers, kilt-wearing bagpipers and green-wigged girls, has come under fire for not allowing gays to march under their own banner.
The ban prompted Mayor de Blasio to refuse to walk, and beer brands Guinness and Heineken both pulled their sponsorships of the event at the last minute.
Before the parade began, protesters gathered near the route in Midtown holding signs with slogans such as “Boycott homophobia’’ and chanting, “We’re Irish, we’re queer, we have a right to be here!”
“The hatred represented by this parade has gotten clearer and more untenable every year for more than two decades,” said Emmaia Gelman, of the group Irish Queers.
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton marched despite the outcry.
“Certainly, I’d like to see everybody in the parade,” he explained. “But today was a day of . . . Irish heritage and . . . I’m sure that, in the future, the issues will be resolved.”
Earlier in the day, the mayor hosted a breakfast with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny.
De Blasio presented Kenny with a crystal Tiffany apple — after dropping it.
“The apple is whole. The apple has landed,” de Blasio joked.
Etched with the city’s seal and mayor’s signature, the apple sells for $160, but Tiffany has donated it for the event for 20 years.
Additional reporting by Yoav Gonen, Kirstan Conley and Kate Sheehy