In early 1903 moves were afoot to make St. Patrick's Day, 17th March, a national holiday in Galway. A National Holiday Committee was set up and it proposed to implement the national holiday with the "voluntary" closure of shops, businesses etc. in the city. Delegations were formed to visit shops and businesses with the intention of getting them to voluntarily close on Tuesday 17th March, which up to then was a normal workday in the town. The committee that was set up under the auspices of the Galway Branch of the Gaelic League and which held their meetings in the League's rooms in Nuns Island, was presided over by Rev. A.J. Considine with Mr. J. Nestor acting as Secretary. A parade or procession, various sporting events and entertainment were arranged for St. Patrick's Day.

The Galway Observer's report on March 14, 1903. read...

A letter from the Bishop of Galway, Dr. F.J. McCormack, supporting the proposals was published in The Galway Express in March 1903 '' ...I have learned with pleasure that the committee of the Galway Branch of the Gaelic League have earnestly joined the movement...to celebrate the feast of our National Apostle.... the 17th March should be regarded, ecclesiastically and civilly, as if it fell on a Sunday. No fair or market should be permitted on that day, and houses licensed for the sale of liquor should be kept closed all day long...''

A list of more then two hundred and fifty merchants, traders and employers of labour who promised to observe St. Patrick's Day as a public holiday was published street by street headed by Forster Street/ College Road Peter Rabbitt, James Mahon, Patk Connolly, Nora Martyn and Mark O'Flaherty.... A list of traders who gave no response or refused to close was also published. The National Holiday Committee published two resolutions: ''

(1) That we strongly recommend the people of Galway to support only those traders, merchants and employers who have promised to observe the National Holiday;

(2). That we call upon our fellow citizens to help the movement for a general closing on St. Patrick's Day, by making all necessary purchases on the day previous (Monday)'' Galway Observer, March 1903. Resolutions supporting a National Holiday came from Galway Urban Council, The Galway Board of Guardians, the Drapers Assistants' Association, and St. Patrick's League of the Cross. St. Patrick's Day, Tuesday 17 March 1903 was observed as a public holiday in Galway. All the activities that were arranged by the holiday committee were a complete success. Between eight and ten thousand people were on the streets of Galway at one o'clock to support the procession, which made its way from Nile Lodge to Eyre Square and finished at the playing fields at the top of Bohermore where Gaelic matches were played.

The parade was led by the Brass Band of the National Association (Parnell movement), the Forster St. Fife and Drum Band (which became St. Patrick's Band in 1906), members of the Gaelic Athletic Association, hurlers and footballers and others after which came the band of the Boys Industrial School. The bands played Irish airs in turn and it was a great festive occasion.

The Galway Observer March 21, 1903 reported on the ''St. Patrick's Day Parade''. ''The efforts of the Gaelic League in getting the townspeople to observe St. Patrick's Day as a general holiday carried out a complete success. Every shop in town was closed, and in some shops business was even more rigidly avoided then of a Sunday. All the merchant yards were closed and in some places of business where the owners gave no promise to close up, even these closed too...'' It continued '' The Galway branch of the Gaelic League and the committee who exerted themselves, deserve very great credit for making the holiday such a great success, which will probably be a fixture for all time to come.''