Keansburg Cancels Its St. Patrick's Day Parade Because A Suspicious Device Was Found On Parade Route

KEANSBURG, NJ — The town of Keansburg made the decision to cancel its St. Patrick's Day parade Saturday after a possible incendiary device was found along the parade route.

The device was discovered by someone participating in the parade as he or she walked along the parade route Saturday morning, said Keansburg Mayor George Hoff.

He refused to give any additional details about what the device was, such as what was inside, what it looked like or what made it explosive or capable of hurting people.

Hoff would only say it was a "suspicious package."

Contrary to what people are saying on social media, a bomb threat was not called in, nor did the town or parade receive any threat of a bomb, by phone, email or social media, he stressed.

The item was simply found by someone in the parade walking the route ahead of time.

However, the item alarmed Keansburg Police enough that they contacted the FBI, which now has custody of the package and is evaluating it. Keansburg Police also contacted the NJ State Police's bomb-sniffing dogs, Middletown Police, which have a bomb-sniffing dog, and the Monmouth County Prosecutor's office, and all those agencies responded to Keansburg Saturday. Using the dogs, the teams searched the parade route and found no additional suspicious items, said Hoff.

Still, the decision was made at about 12:15/12:30 p.m. to cancel the popular parade, which was scheduled to start that afternoon.

"We made the decision to cancel out of an abundance of caution," said Hoff. "There was a concern there could be more devices, but NJ State Police and Middletown K9 units searched the parade route, and none were found. The decision to cancel was made by myself, the Keansburg chief of police (Sandra Burton), the Monmouth County prosecutor's office and the State Police bomb unit. It's absolutely an unpopular decision, but people are now safe. We want to err on the side of caution, and we don't want to put the parade or people who participate in the parade in harm's way."

"The decision was made for safety reasons. I don't care if people are not happy," Hoff continued. "I'm disappointed too, but it's for the safety of people. That's more important than a party."

Hoff said the town and parade organizers have to decide if there will be a make-up date for the 2026 Keansburg St. Patrick's Day parade.