Montreal's St. Patrick's Day Parade seeks donations

Organizers of Montreal'sSt. Patrick's Day Parade are appealing to residents to help fund this year's event.

The parade is one of the biggest in the worldand costs close to$100,000to run.

Kevin Murphy, a spokesperson for theUnited Irish Societies of Montreal, said the organization added a donation button to its website a few months ago.

He says the parade has struggled to find major corporate sponsors in recent yearsso it has had to make changes, including cutting back on the number of bands coming from outside the province.

"It's a very expensive endeavour for some of these bands to come in ...so we do give them a helping hand to get here," he told CBC News.

Murphy says people used to see about 20 marching bands in the parade.

The City of Montreal contributes $30,000 to the parade, while the province hands over $25,000.

This year'sparade is on Sunday, March 20.