Belfast City Council, despite unionist opposition and by the narrowest of margins, has decided to host an official St Patrick's Day carnival.
The council will provide £100,000 funding and for the first time, will take over the staging of the event.
The motion to support the carnival was passed by 25 votes to 24. There are, however, certain conditions that must be observed. Alcohol, Tricolours and football jerseys will not be permitted and a rainbow shamrock will replace green-coloured shamrocks.
Voting against the parade on Wednesday night were both unionist parties, the DUP and Ulster Unionists. The balance of power in Belfast City Council sits with the Alliance Party whose vote helped the decision to pass.
Alliance councillor Naomi Long expressed her disappointment that unionist councillors withdrew their previous support for inclusive St Patrick's Day festivities with agreed conditions.
"Unionist politicians supported this view in the autumn and agreed to go down this route, but, yet again, when push came to shove, they backed away from that position and tried to block the money required to see the decision through," she said.
"The best chance of this being a successful and inclusive event in the city is for unionist politicians to show political leadership, reinvest their support in the event and encourage their constituents to get involved," Ms Long added.
Ulster Unionist councillor Jim Rodgers said: "My party voted against it. We felt no one could ensure it would pass off without incident. Hopefully we are proved wrong."
Mr Rodgers said he may attend the event as an observer.
DUP councillor Nelson McCausland asked: "Who is going to remove a flag from someone or ask someone to cover up a jersey? If you try to do that there will be difficulties for the security staff or the police. The police would then be involved in a confrontation and I think the police would shy away from that."
SDLP councillor Carmel Hanna said: "It is very unfortunate that the unionist councillors who sit on the steering good relations committee - who agreed on the guidelines - decided to vote against this motion. I had hoped that Belfast City unionist councillors would give this proposal a fair wind."
The St Patrick's Day Carnival committee was formed nine years ago to seek council funding for an official St Patrick's Day festival. Spokesman Conor Maskey said: "We believe the politicians that have been most vocal in their opposition to this event should accept the vote and work with others to positively promote this year's event."
The festivities will not be hosted on the grounds of City Hall, which is celebrating its centenary. The parade and concert will take place at the newly refurbished Custom House Square near the River Lagan.