The 2010 New York City Saint Patrick's Day Parade kicks off Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. starting at 44th Street and Fifth Avenue.

The annual festival, which celebrates Irish culture, will march up 5th avenue today.

A Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral would take place before the parade and New York Gov. David Paterson and Mayor Michael Bloomberg were attending, NBC New York reported.

The Irish Government celebrates the festival in that country to project, internationally, an accurate image of Ireland as a creative, professional and sophisticated country with wide appeal, as we approach the new Millennium, according to a Government brief.

The parade is celebrated worldwide for both Irish and non-Irish.

Watch a preview aerial view of the 2010 NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade below:

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