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Read the press release here.

7 Train Will Not Be Running for St. Pat's for All Parade

 Children hold Irish flags along the route of the St. Pat's for All Parade in Sunnyside on March 2, 2014.
Children hold Irish flags along the route of the St. Pat's for All Parade in Sunnyside on March 2, 2014.
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DNAinfo/Tom Liddy

SUNNYSIDE — The MTA's going to rain on this parade.

Sunnyside will celebrate its annual St. Pat's for All Parade on Sunday, despite the fact that the 7 train won't be running through the neighborhood.

There will be no service on the line between Times Square-42nd Street and 74th St-Broadway from early Saturday to early Monday, according to the MTA's website — one in a series of ongoing weekend disruptions required to replace tracks, update the line's signal system and make other repairs.

"We have been receiving so many calls, emails, Facebook messages, groups contacting us asking us how they're going to get to the parade since the number 7 is not running," said Brendan Fay, founder and co-chair of St. Pat's for All, who said volunteers have been meeting since October to organize the event.

"This parade, it means so much to people," he said. "St. Pat's for All is not simply another New York parade."

Fay founded St. Pat's for All in 1999 as an LGBT-friendly alternative to other St. Patrick's Day parades, including the famed Fifth Avenue march which for years banned openly gay groups from participating.

Politicians and city officials regularly attend the Sunnyside festival — Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito are expected this Sunday, according to organizers. Groups from across the five boroughs and even some from out of state are also expected, Fay said.

"It's a hardship for people," he said of the 7 train service outage. "I wish the MTA would reconsider."

The MTA has rescheduled 7 train maintenance work around major events before, including the Lunar New Year celebration in Flushing earlier this month and the LIC Arts Open last year.

But agency spokesman Kevin Ortiz said the work that will be done this weekend is too critical to cancel. Crews will be replacing track panels, a project that requires two consecutive weekends, he said, and postponing it would interfere with other scheduled maintenance the MTA has planned.

He added that ridership numbers during previous St. Pat's for All parades were not high enough to warrant canceling the work. The event typically brings a couple of hundred additional riders compared to events like Lunar New Year, where the ridership bump is in the thousands, Ortiz said.

Shuttle buses will be available between the stations along the 7 line where trains are not running, and riders coming from Manhattan can also take the Q32 or Q60 buses to Sunnyside, he said. People can also take the R train to 46th Street and then take the Q104 bus.

Parade organizers are hoping the MTA will change its tune in time for Sunday, but Fey said the celebration will continue full-steam ahead even without the 7 train.

Activist Kerry Kennedy and actor Brían F. O’Bryne will serve as this year's Grand Marshals, recognized for their work in human rights and the arts, according to a press release from organizers.

The parade will also include Irish organizations, immigrant community groups, LGBT groups, dancers, bagpipe bands, puppets and and stilt walkers, organizers said.

"Hospitality is what we're about," Fay said.

St. Pat's for All takes place Sunday, March 1. The parade will assemble at 1 p.m. at 43rd Street and Skillman Avenue, taking off at 2 p.m. and ending at 56th Street and Skillman Avenue in Woodside. For more information, visit the parade's website.