HOLYOKE — The city’s population this weekend is expected to go from 50,000 to half a million, as the Irish, and those who are Irish for the weekend, get ready to run, march, and drink in honor of Ireland’s patron saint.

The weekend kicks off Saturday afternoon with the St. Patrick’s Day Road Race, where some 6,000 runners and walkers will traverse the 10-kilometer course.

And while the 2.65-mile St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Sunday is an annual event, going on its 72nd year, this year’s parade President John Beaulieu promises participants will “see something they haven’t seen before.”

St. Patrick’s Day weekend is a cornerstone of Holyoke’s life, culturally and economically. Yearly it brings in as much as $20 million in revenue to the city and the region.

At Sunday’s parade, as many as 42 bands will perform, many of them regional high schools and others flying in from across the country. Usual favorites will be there, like the Shriners, and favorites of the past, like Clydesdale horses, will be brought back this year.

Contingents from several other nearby municipalities will also participate in the parade, including Northampton, Easthampton, and South Hadley in Hampshire County.

But in addition to the traditional favorites, Beaulieu said there will be, “Quite an array of things outside the norm,” including puppet walkers and unicyclists, and other performative actors and groups.

Bridget Moynihan, model, actress and author, will receive the John F. Kennedy National Award, which is given yearly to honor prestigious people of Irish heritage.

The “Sex and the City” actress and Longmeadow native will walk the streets of Holyoke, and receive the award first given to John F. Kennedy in 1958, when the Massachusetts senator was recognized on the steps of Holyoke’s City Hall during the 7th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

The grand marshal for this year’s parade is James M. Lavelle, professor emerita of the Education Department, at Holyoke Community College.

This year’s Citizenship Award recipient is the Rev. Fr. Robert A. Gentile Jr., who before taking an assignment last year in Chicopee at St. Rose de Lima church, had been pastor of Blessed Sacrament in Holyoke since 2006.

The Ambassador Award went to Frederick L. Sullivan, which is gifted to those who work to promote communication between those in Ireland today and the millions of American Irish here in the United States.

Jeff Walsh is this year’s recipient of the Georgene E. O’Connell Award. Devin Sheehan is receiving the Thomas F. Rohan Award and James Meenaghan is being honored with the Daniel J. Gallivan Award.

Mayor Joshua Garcia will also be there, fresh off of his trip to Tralee, Ireland, where he was welcomed as a distinguished guest and grand marshall in their parade last weekend. He will be accompanied by countless regional dignitaries.

Beaulieu thanks the parade’s dozens of sponsors who raise the $600,000 it takes to put on the signature event, which he wanted to make clear, “is not free to put on.”

“They are true advocates for Irish heritage,” he said about the sponsors. “It’s just amazing how people come together in a time of need.”

Beaulieu said the energy and buzz around preserving the parade tradition has never been higher as it is this year, as the committee welcomed 23 new members. He also said the parade’s legacy is not threatened, as younger generations continue to be passionate and invested toward putting on the parade.

The Holyoke St. Patrick’s Road Race, which includes a 10K run and 2-mile walk, kicks off at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

The parade steps off on Sunday at 11:10 a.m. from the Kmart plaza parking lot.

The parade route goes from Northampton Street, down Beech Street, merging onto Appleton where the parade ends on High Street.

Weather is expected to be partly cloudy and in the mid-50s on Saturday, and sunny and slightly cooler on Sunday.

Samuel Gelinas can be reached at sgelinas@gazettenet.com.