Rochester, NY
Four months of cold and grey weather were thrown out the window in a big way yesterday. Rochester’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade shows that winter is almost over. The downtown streets were filled with an energy that can only come when Mother Nature decides to let you do something fun. A 60 degree sunny day, bagpipes, Guinness, and an incredible mix of people made for just the right recipe of extended fun. My friend Sean and I started at the heart of the bands, food, and drink, Milestones, at 11:30 AM. From there it was walking up and down East Ave. stopping in at different places to see different people we knew. I was a true social butterfly, seeing friends in their lawn chairs on the sidewalk to seeing friends as guest bartenders. There were families with wagons for the kids that doubled as a cooler holder. There were grey haired couples dancing to the bagpipes. There were teenagers taking part in the parade. And there we were, in the middle of it all. Sean and I made our way to Monte’s Korner once the parade started to meet up with the crew. It was a big mix of many groups and it was electric out there. I witnessed a chugging contest on the corner of East and Alexander. I saw the Irish dancers do their jig as the floats went by. My friend Josh even drove one of the cars for a float. 11:30 AM turned into 3:00. The parade ended but the fun did not. We followed the same route as last year and went into BarFly. 3:00 turned into 6:00 and we ended up at Matthew’s were some of us were eating. I should have done the same. Instead I was chattering up a storm. I think I managed a few scraps. 6:00 turned into 11:30 PM. My dart game was way off and even more people came into the mix at Salinger’s. The day went by in a blur, but I know I hadn’t smiled that much for that long in a while. There is something about sunshine, outdoors, music, and friends. All of that pent up energy from the winter was released by thousands yesterday and I’m glad I was part of it. More fun stuff for follow as the weather gets better.