Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  Today is a HUGE local holiday.

HUGE.

Some people even get the day off.  Many soldiers have a 4 day weekend this weekend.

Not mine.

But he did take the day off.

We attended the parade in Savannah, which is, according to some source I saw online, the second largest in the nation.

Did I mention HUGE?

The parade started at 10ish.  It got to our spot around 1030 am.  When the tail end came, it was nearly 200 pm.

Three and a half hours of parade. 

I actually almost wanted it to be over.  Thank goodness, I had packed drinks and snacks.

We took 238 pictures today, Bill and I.  I will only share half of them.



The Knights of Columbus led the parade. The parade began after Mass.



Mary had a great seat.

If you’re a red-headed Irish woman and you march in the St. Pat’s Parade, you better have a green sling.

The Budweiser Clydesdales were very popular.

They are massive and gorgeous.

The dog is cute too.

McGruff the Crime Dog was a hit as well.

Notice the kids swarming McGruff?  It’s quite common for the audience to run into the parade and interact with the marchers.  Savannah has a very small-town feel.  One woman a few seats down from us seemed to know everybody who was anybody in the parade.  She was up more than she was down.

Besides just saying hi to your friends, the audience, especially the female members, run into the parade and hang beads around the necks of marchers.  And they kiss them.  And they leave evidence behind.

Drum majors get kissed.

Drummers get kissed.

Young guys get kissed.

Old guys get kissed.

Ladies get kissed.

Big guys get kissed.

Texting firefighters get kissed.

If you’re “lucky” the parade will come to a halt. And you will get kissed.

Or maybe if you’re “unlucky” the parade will come to a halt. And you will get kissed.

The JROTC cadets got it worse than anyone else.

Seriously.

Maybe because many of those distributing kisses were high school aged.

But soldeirs got kissed too.

She is not high school aged.

So dignified.

How could you not want to kiss a Marine? Don’t they look great?

Unfortunately, I forgot my lipstick.  Maybe if I’m here next year…

I did run out once.  More on that later.

Other sights:

Orange shoes.

A goat.

Cream pants with shamrocks.

Pretty jeep.

Cute pram.

Bicycle built for two.

Cute wool coat.

“What color was that Harley?” asked one man. “Brunette!” replied the other.

A very tall leprechaun.

A kazoo club.

They were “playing” God Bless America.

Very green hair.

Uncle Sam.

Uncle Sam’s shoes.

Of course, no Irish themed parade would be complete without bagpipes.

I know this post is long, but still a few more (dozen) pictures.

The woman wearing these socks had to be at least my age.

This balcony is on the house next door to my future house. (Just need to win the lottery.)

The kids with the cymbals are clapping them UNDER their legs.

They kept good time.

I thought we were in Philadelphia for a minute…

One option to tour Savannah.  Very green.

The military got many cheers and usually people stood up when they (and veterans) went past.  Some generous but misguided people kept trying to give beers to the soldiers.

He said, “Thank you,” and then put it down…I swear.

While many of the marines were plastered with kisses, none of them were wearing the beads.  If someone gave them beads, they thanked them and put them in their pockets.  ONE marine had beads on, but he was the boss, so he could get away with it.  (Side note: Bill noticed an error with his uniform.  I’ll bet the guy was mortified when he discovered it.)

The bars in the area opened at 7 am.  For those marching, it was best to BYOB.

This rolling cooler PROBABLY just had water.

Now THIS is a great idea. I’ll bet they don’t have just water in there.

These guys had a grill on the top of their float. Smelled yummy.

I’m not a big movie personality person, but this guy really looks famous.

He was just marching along, toward the end.  No big sign saying, “Hey, look at me!  I’m Johnny Depp.”

He was standing right in front of me…maybe 10 feet away and nobody in between.  If it wasn’t him, then they found a darn good impersonator.

Lastly, Fritz and Billy did not get to see the parade.  They marched with the Scouts.  I tried to convince Katie and Jenny to run out to them, but they wouldn’t go and kiss them. 

So Mary and I did.

Fritz is actually in this picture, just to the left of the far-right flag bearer.

When the boys found out at drop off that girls KISS the marchers, they were terrified.  Billy stood in the middle of a bunch of tall boys so you couldn’t even see him.  I had to hunt really hard.  When he heard me say, “Kiss him!” he ducked, until he saw it was Mary.
Fritz was easier to spot.  And somebody else found him later on.

Oh, we are tired.  What a fun day, though.