St.Patrick's Day

Dad came over this morning shortly before 9 and we drove a couple miles towards town (Hillsboro), parked the car and walked about half a mile down to Main street to watch the St. Patrick's Day parade. The parade hadn't arrive so we amused ourselves by looking over the new cultural center which is to open later this week. It was an old church until a year or two ago, when the congregation moved to a new building. The city bought it and renovated it. I suppose the building was worth saving. The walls are made of red stone. The renovation cost a small fortune. When dad and I arrived there were a couple of hundred potted flowers laid out on the ground by the walk. There is a large patio paved with, what else?, pavers. There were three or four large stones with drawings engraved on them embedded in the patio. There were also a fair number of stones with peoples name engraved on them, presumably donors.

After a bit we started walking along the parade route to see if there was any sign of the parade. There wasn't, so after a couple of blocks we headed back to the car. On our way back to the house we went by Hare field and saw the parade forming up. When we got back to the house we discovered that the parade was to assemble at the staging area at 9am, but the parade proper didn't start until 11am. So we had a cup of coffee and then headed back downtown. This time we parked a block from the old church, couldn't get any closer as the road was blocked off. It was a pretty impressive parade, for being on a Saturday in March. Weather was pleasant enough, 50 to 60 degrees and no rain. When we got to the church all the little potted flowers had been planted. Someone was busy!

Preceding the parade came a little three wheeled electric car from the police department. I believe they use it for parking enforcement. Absolutely silent. Dad wondered if he might be able to use one when they finally take his license away.

The parade started with the motorcycle police driving in circles. They made one impressive maneuver. All riding down the right side of the road they simultaneously made a U-turn and formed up in a line in reverse order going the other direction on the other side of the road. All of the motorcycles were BMW's except for one Kawasaki.

There was an assortment of old cars and hot rods. There was one very old car that had a tiller instead of a steering wheel. There was one hot-rod that made from a very old car like (or done in the style of) a Mercer race-about. I liked it. The police department brought their SWAT vehicle. It appeared to have been converted from an old armored car. There was a contingent of 50 (count 'em 50!) PT cruisers, all decked out in green bunting. As the entry fee to the parade was $20, that's a $1,000 to the Boys and Girls Club of Hillsboro, the parade's beneficiary.

There were three or four groups of horses and riders. A dance studio brought their girls. Murphy's Furniture Store (Parade Sponsor) had a large flat bed truck with a man playing an electric organ. There was a small generator set, presumably providing power to the organ. I could here the organ (he wasn't playing very loud). I couldn't hear the generator at all, which surprised me. Now I'm wondering if the generator was even running. Maybe they were getting the power someplace else, like an inverter. There was one fellow on a scooter with an outsized rear wheel. The wheel looked to be about 16 inches in diameter and was spoked, like a bicycle wheel. Unlike a bicycle, the axle was not concentric with the center of the wheel but was offset a couple of inches. Naturally, this caused the rear of the scooter's platform to go up and down as the wheel rolled along. The rider could propel the scooter by simply pumping his legs. Very amusing.