I’m at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and there are more plastic cups whipping down High Street in the wind than there are people waiting for the parade to turn the corner.
I’m beginning to think the parade has been delayed by the 30-plus mph wind gusts, when I spy some resolute revelers claiming their spots along the sidewalk. Donning heavy coats, gloves, and hats for the 30-degree weather, they drop their chairs on the curb closest to the street then run for cover, tucking inside storefront nooks for shelter.
I’m walking towards Brennan’s Place, and a big, plastic shamrock almost smacks me in the face as gusts hurl it down the road. I turn and see a parade vendor losing his wares in the wind. Green gloves, stuffed dogs, boas, hats, horns are coming loose from his cart and joining a pre-parade parade of plastic cups and bags whizzing down the street.
“It’s bad this year,” says vendor Eddy Ruiz, 40, of Holyoke. He’s been working parade day for 15 years. “It is what it is. We just do it, and hopefully we still make a little money.”
Walking back towards City Hall, I see a girl with a green wig trying to keep her mop on through a gust that nearly claims her festive locks. Police barricades closing off streets to through-traffic tumble in the wind and officers scramble to prop them up again. People pop in and out of El Sabor Caribeno and Kennedy Fried Chicken for some comfort food before the action starts. “I gotta go get some liquor,” one girl says to her friend as she runs by shivering. “It’s too cold.”
Kids wearing blankets like dresses blow bubbles into the gale, creating the day’s first bubblenados.
A blast of horns and noisemakers lets everyone around the corner know the parade is about to arrive. As marchers carrying city, state and, country flags turns the corner, the sidewalks surrounding City Hall are finally filling out.
“This is brutal,” says one woman as she walks by hugging herself. “It would be one thing if it were just cold, or just windy, but this …”
Still, spirits are high. Even though many parade-watchers appear too cold to remove their hands out from beneath blankets to wave; smiles, and boisterous cheers abound. And despite their rosy, wind-chapped cheeks, those marching in the parade seem undaunted. One jolly past parade marshal approaches a shivering woman in front of City Hall. “You cold?” he asks as he shakes her hand. She smiles and nods emphatically. “Well, you only got a few more hours!” he says, laughing maniacally as he turns back to the fold.
— Amanda Drane, adrane@valleyadvocate.com
