Where is the most appropriate place to have a St. Patrick's Day Parade?
I bet your answer is Dublin because that's the capital city of Ireland.
Or perhaps you want to say New York because you have heard of the celebrations there.
I don't agree!!!!
Last year Fred & I went to the place which we believe is the most appropriate because it is the place St. Patrick is supposed to have landed nearby and also supposed to have been buried in.
The town of Downpatrick in County Down in Northern Ireland.
We had never been to any St. Patrick's Day Parade anywhere before so this was one of our Xtra Special Days
Having arrived there we got parked outside the town and followed the crowd of people until we got to a part of the town where others were already standing waiting. We discovered this was the end of the parade route so decided to stay here also.
Soon along came the Street Performers to help to keep us entertained until the parade could make it's way through the town to our position.
Some of them threw sweets to the children
and one of them came right over to greet Fred.
Well because I already had the phone out to take pictures and we were getting a bit bored we resorted to one of the few selfies we have taken, some are mentioned previously in Does My Nose Look Big in This?
Then along came the Parade.
No, correct that, it was only the Pre-parade of Vintage Cars.
Not really a novelty around Northern Ireland as there are quite a few of these each year now.
Very shortly after that came the real thing.
The Parade
First of course we had St. Patrick and he was accompanied by two snakes.
Poor man had to walk the whole parade in his bare feet.
Then some Roman? soldiers.
Some other highlights of the parade were:
Colourful lady stilt walker.
Was this an Irish Wolfhound?
A Butterfly!
Never heard of a butterfly having anything to do with St. Patrick, but hey we like butterflies on this blog in fact I Love Butterflies and I Was Going to Miss the Butterflies and I have butterflies on mugs too 3 More Coffee Mugs
then there was
A Pipe band.
A "Mash Direct" bus.
This is one of the good local food companies we have and I have to say their mashed turnip is great.
A DeLorean Car?
Yes a bit after the time of St. Patrick admittedly but Northern Ireland does have a link with DeLorean too. You know a bit like our link with the Titanic.
What could you possibly have after a futuristic car?
Some Large headed characters.
A Christian Music Float.
We were delighted to see this - after all what are we celebrating St. Patrick for?
Not the shamrock,
nor the snakes (or lack of them)
but for the Christianity he introduced to our island.
But then suddenly
2 Elvis impersonators??
No I know, we just could not see any connection here at all.
If you can think of one then please let me know.
And here come the Leprechauns - really?
This of course was clever and I hope not too heavy for the poor guy to carry along.
We also had two Mickey Mouse characters.
Okay we know they were there to amuse the children.
Another Pipe band.
And where else in the world would you get to see a POLICE TRACTOR but in Northern Ireland?
Not even in the Republic of Ireland (Southern Ireland) because it would be a Garda Tractor there.
A group of colourful children.
A Large Mushroom - presumably advertising the mushroom growing industry here.
Some more colourful children.
A Flower Giant.
A Blue stilt walker.
Another Pipe band.
A colourful dragon.
And no St. Patrick didn't slay the dragon - St. George the patron saint of England did that.
So a bit confused about the dragon but then realised he was followed by some dinosaurs and they didn't have anything to do with St. Patrick either so obviously we just enjoy colourful creatures.
Now we do have some folklore about a giant or two in Northern Ireland so to see a giant in this parade was not too unusual but riding a quad?
Although I must say I rather liked this guy.
Then we were coming near the end of the parade with another mini parade this time of Vintage Tractors - Fred quite enjoyed this bit as he was brought up on a farm and could remember some of them.
No I did not say my husband is vintage!
And some more very colourful people and children as the parade came to an end.
You could probably see from the pictures that it was a very cloudy, windy day and it was rather cold so Fred & I were all wrapped up in our heavy coats with gloves and scarves but regardless of the weather thousands of people came to Downpatrick to see the parade.
It was an afternoon out that was definitely not the usual for us and it was nice to walk back to the car with smiles on our faces even if they were getting red from the cold air.
Have you been to see a St. Patrick's Day Parade too?
Or are you planning to go see a St. Patrick's Day Parade in this year?
If so leave me a comment to say where you went or will be going, it will be interesting to see how many different places are covered.
