Downtown SF will again be alive with Irish step dances and played bagpipes Saturday when the city's St. Patrick Day Parade begins, coming off a three-year hiatus — which also means a few streets will close to traffic for a few hours.

Starting with a promenade of themed performances, the parade is expected to commence promptly at 11:30 a.m., between Second Street and Market Street, and will continue along Market Street for some time, according to KRON4. The parade will then convene at the reviewing stand at Civic Center Plaza, where groups from across the Bay Area’s Irish community—including people from schools and labor unions, as well as members of the San Francisco police and fire departments — will join in on the day's festivities.

This will be San Francisco's first in-person St. Patrick's Day Parade in years, so the crowds will be ruckus and keen on uncorking all that bottled-up excitement. We can, as well, expect more than a couple of major street closures that will inevitably cause traffic delays and commuter headaches.

Below, you'll find the smattering of SF streets expected to close at (or before) 11 a.m. to accommodate the parade.

• Mission Street will be closed to automobiles between Ninth and Steuart to accommodate Muni reroutes starting at 10:30 a.m.
• Market Street between Second Street and McAllister Street will close at 11 a.m.
• McAllister between Market and Polk streets will close at 11 a.m.Polk between McAllister and Hayes streets will close

All above-listed streets will reopen after the parade is cleared and the streets are cleaned, which is expected to wrap up by 4 p.m. Saturday.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! Pro tip: If you're feeling particularly frugal, carry around a small bottle of green food dye today to squeeze into your light-colored beer and avoid paying an upcharge for actually the same drink you’d order for $2... or more.

Photo: Courtesy of Getty Images/GMA