Thousands of people are hoping to see more green than white this weekend as we begin parade season in New Jersey.

One of the biggest St Patrick's Day parades will take place this Sunday in Belmar.

It's Belmar's biggest tourist event of the year -- crowds in 2018 topped 50,000 according to organizers. Even in less than ideal conditions, they expect 20,000 to line Main Street and watch more than 6,000 marchers take part in this year's annual event.

Parade chairman Chip Cavanagh has been working and organizing Belmar's biggest event of the year since he was a teenager. He is thinking positively about conditions cooperating.

"I think we will have a little bit of the luck of the Irish and we will get it in," says Cavanagh.

Business owners like Don Weston, of Belmar Bagel Café, will be watching the weather right up until parade day, hoping for some Irish luck to bring sunshine over Belmar.

"The weather forecast doesn't look great but we usually don't have great weather for the parade," said Weston. "We are hoping for the best, hopefully it will be a big crowd as long as it is not raining, it won't stop the crowd."