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00:03 It's been a fantastic event.
00:09 We've had so many people.
00:12 We've had such a big turnout, as we do every year.
00:16 Many people, obviously, because it's not a bank holiday--
00:19 it should be.
00:20 As I said, it should be.
00:21 But it's not.
00:22 But because it's not, so many people, myself included,
00:24 even booked the day off work to come to this, especially,
00:27 to take part, to celebrate our national saint and what he did.
00:33 Plenty of people at the parade were calling for a bank holiday
00:35 on St. David's Day.
00:37 Former Senate member, Neil McEvoy,
00:38 says that on top of it being a bank holiday,
00:41 it would be a great opportunity to make it a tourist attraction
00:44 in the same way that St. Patrick's Day in Ireland
00:46 is celebrated all across the world.
00:49 We're going to build towards it.
00:50 We're going to have a good day today.
00:52 But Ireland is a massive tourist thing.
00:55 People go to Ireland, travel there for St. Patrick's Day.
00:57 We want that for Wales.
00:59 I mean, this diary that's half red or something
01:01 on St. David's Day.
01:03 We should have Welsh flags everywhere.
01:05 I mean, when there are other festivals in the city,
01:08 you've got those flags all over the place, bunting.
01:11 I mean, look around you.
01:13 There's nothing.
01:14 I mean, it's like--
01:17 Scotland, for example, they have St. Andrew's Day as a bank
01:19 holiday.
01:19 In Ireland, both from the Gann North
01:21 and they have St. Patrick's Day as a bank holiday.
01:23 And the way I see it is, if they can have their St. David's Day
01:27 bank holidays, why can't we here in Wales
01:29 when it comes to St. David's Day?
01:31 St. David's Day apparently isn't just for the Welsh.
01:33 We had some of our cousins from across the pond visiting
01:36 who also got involved and said they'd
01:38 spread the word about Wales back home in the States.
01:42 So we're Americans.
01:43 We're here on a school program.
01:45 We're just in the UK.
01:47 And today, we're here in Wales for the St. David's Day parade.
01:49 And we thought it would be fun to participate.
01:51 A lot of us have some Welsh ancestry,
01:53 and I have a lot of Welsh ancestry on my mother's side.
01:55 And so we just thought it would be
01:56 fun to participate in the parade.
01:58 It's awesome people to come together and celebrate.
02:02 It's very awesome.
02:03 The community is just so fun, so inviting.
02:07 Yes, definitely.
02:08 Get involved in any way you can, whether it's
02:11 attending your local parades.
02:13 So whether that's you in Cardiff,
02:14 and there's other parades that are in Wales as well,
02:17 such as in Swansea, Carmarthen, Wrexham, Aberystwyth.
02:20 They all have parades as well.
02:22 Go to your nearest parade if you can.
02:24 Take part in that in any way you can.
02:25 Help out in any way you can.
02:27 Or even if it's just the--
02:29 or even if it's just taking part in, say, a nationalised
02:32 [INAUDIBLE]
02:32 So if you work in a school, for example,
02:34 do a nationalised [INAUDIBLE] on that, or even get your schools
02:36 to come to your nearest parade.
02:40 St. David's Day is important.
02:41 It's not very often that Wales gets to shout
02:43 proud about our Welshness.
02:45 And of all days, St. David's Day at least
02:47 should be that day, whether we'll
02:49 see it become a bank holiday in the future is yet to be seen.
02:52 But if it were up to the people parading through town
02:54 on Friday, we certainly wouldn't be working March 1 next year.
02:57 James B. Watkins, reporting from Cardiff.
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