Phil the Pill a big hit at St. Pat's Day Parade

Phil the Pill had 'em cheering and high-fiving all along King Street. The six-foot walking pill bottle was one of the more noticeable and fun celebrities in the 2025 Charleston St. Patrick's Day Parade, which took place Monday all along King Street. 

The MUSC College of Pharmacy entourage included Dean Philip Hall, Madison Riley Protzman, Caroline Newsome, Roby Hill, Josh Marthers, and faculty emeritus Roger White, whom the dean pulled from the crowd to join for the last leg! But the star of the show was no doubt college mascot Phil the Pill, masterfully filled by Yuri Peterson, interim co-chair of the Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences.

The Charleston St. Patrick's Day Parade has been an institution for more than 25 years. Thousands of people watch or participate in the parade in honor of St. Patrick's Day, a national Irish holiday celebrating the patron saint of Ireland. Historian Donald Williams has found the earliest St. Patrick's Day parade took place on Broad Street in 1823. It waxed and waned in the ensuing years but has been going strong since the Hibernian Society revived the tradition in the 1970s and then started the major parade in 1997.

Brief Vimeo clip of Phil the Pill at the parade

Caroline Newsome, Phil the Pill, and Madison Riley Protzman after the St. Patrick's Day Parade