March 14, 2009. Paddy and I arrived early, had lunch at the Radisson Hotel, in downtown Scranton, PA, and while there we took our our famous "mirror shot"; then back out on the streets for parade festivities. It was a sunny day with temperatures in the 40's and many, many thousands of fans lined the parade route.
As we were walking around a large voice said: "hey, did you get any good pictures". I turned around and said: "I didn't take YOUR picture yet". So the big guy in the white shirt posed with his friends. The group was clearly having a great time at the parade.
Attractive young ladies were everywhere today.
This young lady fooled me. Her shirt had a comment about her tattoos. So I asked: "well where are your tattoos?", and she showed me !
For fun, I ask Paddy to pose with the costumed characters. In the last photo it looked like the Gecko peed right down both of his legs !
Winner and runner up at the International Beer and Pizza competition.
I wondered how those guys got up on those tall bicycles.
You have to be young and in very good shape to be able to lift a straightened leg over your head, while balancing on the other leg !
After perfecting your skateboarding skills, you take it up a notch.
It was dog days today.
There were numerous bag pipe bands, high school bands, The Trilby String Band and other marching units. (In the Trilby String Band, one of the guys was playing the very large bass saxophone!)
The parade had horses and cattle.
People in the parade and people watching the parade, just having fun.
There were floats, a trolley, cars and kids rides.
It was a great parade. With over 100,000 in attendance, Scranton hosts one of the largest St Patrick's day parades in the northeast United States. Paddy and I had a most enjoyable time today in Scranton.
Click HERE to see last year's (2008) parade.