Girardville is the site of an annual St. Patrick's Day parade that is one of the largest in Pennsylvania. It made history on March 29, 2008 when former President Bill Clinton joined the marchers to the delight of 30,000 parade goers that lined the streets of the small coal town.
Girardville has three churches, one Primitive Methodist Church and two Roman Catholic Churches, St. Vincent de Paul and St. Joseph. The Reverend Father Edward B. Connolly is Pastor of both Catholic Churches. Father Connolly has appeared on EWTN in the series "Road to Cana".
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,742 people, 767 households, and 486 families residing in the borough. The population density was 3,327.4 people per square mile (1,293.4/km²). There were 886 housing units at an average density of 1,692.4/sq mi (657.9/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 99.43% White, 0.11% Native American, 0.06% from other races, and 0.40% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.17% of the population.
There were 767 households out of which 23.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.5% were married couples living together, 14.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.6% were non-families. 34.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27 and the average family size was 2.90.
In the borough the population was spread out with 22.1% under the age of 18, 6.6% from 18 to 24, 27.3% from 25 to 44, 23.2% from 45 to 64, and 20.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 91.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.6 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $23,702, and the median income for a family was $30,000. Males had a median income of $26,906 versus $20,433 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $13,735. About 10.5% of families and 14.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 28.7% of those under age 18 and 9.4% of those age 65 or over.