NEW YORK (AP) – An ice storm wiped away the traditional green stripe painted on Fifth Avenue, but St. Patrick’s Day celebrants brought their own brand of emerald warmth to the city’s parade route Saturday – donning kilts, crowding bars and filling the air with bagpipe music.

“We came to party!” declared Una Murray, who flew in from Dublin to join the festivities with her Irish pride “at 110 percent,” she said.

Ms. Murray, carrying green, white and orange balloons and sporting fake green braids, also came dressed to impress: She wore a novelty pair of chaps, emblazoned with a risque variation on the saying “Kiss me, I’m Irish.”

Young girls jumped high in the air as they step-danced along the parade route, accompanied by men in three-pointed hats playing fifes and drums.

By late morning, pubs along Fifth Avenue were packed with people wearing green hats, green boas, green ponchos and flashing green necklaces.

People walked the sidewalks with green dye in their hair and eyebrows. One man wore lime-green sneakers. Nearby, an older woman wore a green cowboy hat and green disco-ball earrings.

Even a police dog patrolling near St. Patrick’s Cathedral wore a green bandanna.

Slushy sidewalks did not seem to deter revelers from coming to watch the 246th incarnation of the New York parade. They pressed against police barricades to cheer marching bands and men and women in uniform. The event typically draws 2 million spectators and 150,000 marchers.

As in past years, the celebration was preceded by another March tradition: an annual bit of Irish infighting, this time between the parade committee’s president and the Fire Department.

Parade boss John Dunleavy moved FDNY marchers from their traditional spot at the start of the parade to a location much further back. The shift was a response to an incident last year when New Orleans firefighters delayed the parade while unfurling a banner thanking New York for its aid after Hurricane Katrina.

Mr. Dunleavy also annoyed firefighters by complaining that many showed up drunk for the march.

Along the parade route, FDNY members seemed unwilling to let the tiff disrupt the festivities.

Firefighter Jimmy Smith grinned as he prepared to join the procession with the department’s Emerald Society Bagpipe Band. Despite the bare knees, he said, gesturing at his kilt, “I’m nice and warm.”

For the last 16 years, each parade has also been preceded by disputes over the parade committee’s refusal to allow gay and lesbian groups to march under their own banner. This year, Christine Quinn, New York’s first openly-gay City Council Speaker, again boycotted the event and marched in Dublin instead.

Two years ago, some firefighters boycotted the parade when department officials barred them from wearing their customary green berets. In 2002, there was a dispute over the best way to honor the victims of the World Trade Center terrorist attack. And back in 1983, former Irish Republican Army soldier Michael Flannery served as grand marshal.

Few of the revelers lining the route seemed aware of any controversy.

Dwayne Carr, wearing only a kilt and a light shirt, said he was thinking about his plan for what to do after the parade.

“Go and find a pub,” he said.