Shamrock Shuffle welcomes fun run season to Saint John, N.B., before St. Patrick’s Day

Runners are pictured in Saint John, N.B., dressed in green for the 32nd Annual Pete's Pub Shamrock Shuffle on Sunday, March 16, 2025.

More than 100 runners – many of them dressed in green – took their marks Sunday morning for the 32nd Annual Pete’s Pub Shamrock Shuffle in Saint John, N.B.

The charity fun run takes place every year in the city before St. Patrick’s Day.

Shamrock shuffle co-founder Peter Ferguson said the event has been successful for more than three decades because it’s an early season fun run for a good cause.

“Runners are a very inclusive, welcoming group and there’s many runs this season in Saint John that are charity events,” Ferguson said.

It cost $20 to register for the event with all the proceeds going to local non-profit group RedHead Strays, a group that provides care for stray cats.

Runners met at Picaroons for registration before making their way to the Hilton hotel along the boardwalk to start the run. They followed the near two-mile Harbour Passage route, before returning to Picaroons for chilli and refreshments.

Ferguson said the fun run is important to Canada’s “most Irish” city.

“The Irish started coming to Saint John in 1834 escaping the potato famine, and their descendants became some of our greatest families in Saint John,” Ferguson said. “You see that spirit reflected here today.”

Ferguson said the shuffle was the first fun run of the season and there are more opportunities to participate coming to the greater Sait John area.

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