St. Patricks Day Parade!

Who knew? Pickerel hosts a St. Patricks Day parade every year. In fact this year was the 23rd. We've lived in Lily, 5 mile from Pickerel for 3 years, and somehow, we never knew about this phenomenon. And let me tell you, it was pretty fantastic. It met all the northwoods celebration requirements.

We drove up to Pickerel 10 minutes before the parade was to start. We didn't think we'd have much of a problem getting a parking spot. I mean the population of Pickerel and Lily together is probably less than 1500 people. But we were wrong. I don't know if it was the fabulous weather, or the fact that after a long winter people just want to party, but the streets were packed! The other thing we were wrong about was our wardrobe. I mean, I know that when you dress up for St. Paddy's day you are supposed to wear green, so most of us had our token green on. But these people went all-out! I mean over the top all-out, like freakishly wierd all-out. Even the animals were dragged into it.

Here's a small glimps of the crowd. There were almost as many people here for this little parade as there is for the 4th of July celebration in White Lake. I'm pretty sure that there were more people here this year than most years. I cannot remember having 70 degree temps in any of the previous years. 
What are two things that a North woods celebration can't do without?
 Wierdo's and alcohol.
Both are usually found in abundance, and today was no exception.
(notice the large green mohawk in the background?)

This leprchaun, was walking around the parade. If you answered his question of "Are you Irish?" with a' yes', he poured hard liquor down your throat. I personally have never encountered this at a parade before. Fortunately he wasn't approaching any under age kids.

Of course, what parade would be complete without a beer wagon? Yes, here in the Northwoods, they pass out cups of beer to adults during the parade. I don't support this - just in case you were wondering. I guess it is part of the North woods charm?

Of course a St. Patricks Day parade wouldn't be complete without a visit from the Saint himself, and we were not disapointed. The fact that a woman was wearing this costume did not go unnoticed by us. Even the kids knew. Guess she should have either remained silent, or disguised her voice better. :)

All Northw woods quirks aside, we still enjoyed ourselves.  The kids left with a pocketfull of candy, which is all they really cared about.  The adults just enjoyed the sun shining on our faces and watching all of the people at the parade.

So I'm wondering . . . do any of you have parades like this in your home town? I want to know what your town holiday celebrations are like. This is a small glimps of some of ours. Over all, it's always a fun experience. The people are usually friendly and because we live in a small community, we usually recognize many of the faces in the crowds. We usually don't have any safety issues, people help watch out for each other.
I hope you enjoyed your St. Patricks Day. Pinterest filled my head with all sorts of fun and colorful ideas, but as usual, I didn't get around to doing any of them.
So at least we had the parade.
It was a good day.