By Doug Draper
St. Patrick’s Day, in all its greenery, seems like the perfect prelude to the first day of spring, and no city or town in our greater binational region anticipates it with as much gusto as Buffalo.
This spirited group gathered early for Buffalo's St. Patrick's Day Parade. See more pictures by Doug Draper of the Buffalo St. Patty celebrations below.
Maybe it is because Buffalo – located right inside the bulls eye, at the stormy eastern tip of Lake Erie – is famous for bearing so much of the brunt of our long, cold winters. Or maybe its because the city has hosted one of the larger populations of Irish Catholics per capita, going back to the heyday of the Erie Canal and its formative years as an industrial powerhouse in the 1800s.
Whatever the reason, Buffalo’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which marched up Delaware Avenue to waves of cheers for more than two hours this past Sunday, March 14 and three days before St Patrick’s Day this March 17, is our region’s equivalent of the Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
If you weren’t there, you missed one of the most colourful street parties of the year.
Decked out in green bows and ribbons, llamas stroll Buffalo's Allen Street for St. Patrick's celebrations.
The crowds lining the parade route, and pouring in and out of the bars on side streets, were so huge, it would not surprising if they rivaled they the size of the city’s population. And then there was the beer. It was being consumed along the parade route in such mass quantities, I’m sorry I didn’t buy shares in Guinness a few days before. Police had little choice but to offer a day of grace for the street drinking. If they started making arrests, there would never be enough jails.
Apparently there were some arrests, which is to be expected with a crowd so large and revved up. I witnessed one at the corner of Delaware Avenue and Allen Street, and The Buffalo News reported the following day that “police radio was filled with reports of fights, assaults and public intoxication, but no serious injuries.”
The 'Green Man' gives two thumbs up for St. Patrick's Day.
But that was small potatoes. All in all, it was one grand parade and Buffalo once again deserves kudos for putting on some of the very best festivals of fun for people of all ages.
Where else can one go and mingle with real llamas, all dressed up in green bows and ribbons, wandering the streets of Allentown or meet ‘Green Man’, St. Patty Day’s answer to Spiderman, covered from hair to toe in green tights posing for pictures with passing revelers. Then there were the endless streams of people walking dogs wearing frilly green doggie suits.
It was such a high-spirited party, one wonders if the Irish of Buffalo will have any spark left for St. Patrick’s Day itself, although I suspect these people will.
Here is to Buffalo and to everyone in our towns and regions on both sides of the border who enjoy St. Patrick’s Day. Have a good and let’s all have a great spring.
Just one slice of Buffalo's exhuberant St. Patrick's Parade crowd.
(Click on www.niagaraatlarge.com for Niagara At Large for other news and commentary of interest and concern to residents in your greater binational Niagara region.)
What exactly do llamas have to do with St. Patty’s day? Poor things. Must’ve been scared to death.