Green reigns at city's St. Patrick's Day parade
Rain kept crowds down but it didn't dampen the fun for Irish and non-Irish alike
Michael O'Shea sold his namesake Irish bar and restaurant on Charles Street 14 years ago, but during the Baltimore St. Patrick's Day parade festivities, you might never know it.
Each year, O'Shea returns to his old digs and stands with a microphone atop a stage on the sidewalk outside, an unofficial “Reviewing Stand North,” from which he emcees the first leg of the parade.
To hear him tell it, the stage was former Baltimore mayor and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley's idea, back in the 1990s.
“He said, ‘Why don't you do a reviewing stand?'?” O'Shea said. “?‘You know everybody that comes by.'?”
As he spoke, a boisterous sea of green slowly filled the street. Thousands of runners in the Shamrock 5K stretched their legs, while parade marchers gathered at the Washington Monument. Bar employees carried keg after keg of Guinness, Harp and Smithwicks into an alley to set up a small beer garden.
Dan and Erin Bindel, of Perry Hall, sipped National Bohemian before the run with their daughter Caitlin Cech.
“You've got to hydrate,” Dan Bindel joked. “And we go to Phillips afterward — to rehydrate!”
For some, the anticipation of the day is as good as any of the marching bands, bagpipes and floats.
That's the case for Margie McClure, 55, of Catonsville, who covered her eyes as her 15-year-old daughter, Cally McClure sprayed her short blonde hair green for the festivities.
The two come with a group of about 10 each year. Sometimes they run in the 5K; sometimes they don't. (This year, with a light drizzle falling, they elected not to join the masses running down Charles Street.)
“It's so much fun hanging out,” Margie McClure said. “Everybody has busy lives, [but today] we get to hang out with our friends.”
Humans weren't the only ones decked out for the occasion.
Roux, a 12-year-old golden-doodle, rocked two green bows, a feather boa around her neck, and a spritz of green dye in her coat for the parade.
“This is a tradition,” said her owner, Kim Bettencourt.
Bettencourt, 45, a former chef for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, brought Roux through the crowd and up the steps of the Baltimore Basilica to introduce her to Archbishop William E. Lori's puppy, a 6-month-old golden retriever named Bailey.
At the 10:45 a.m. Mass, Lori spoke to a packed basilica about St. Patrick's missionary work.
“It's wonderful,” he said after. “It's a real community celebration in honor of a great saint.”
The rain picked up about 3 p.m., sending some parade watchers diving for umbrellas and others scooting under building awnings. Some kept clapping and dancing to the Irish step music in the rain.
Mary Cate Sweeney, Kathleen Egan and Karrie Egan laughed and high-fived passing step dancers as they did jigs of their own in the downpour.
“A little rain isn't going to spoil our fun,” Sweeney said.
Karrie Egan was in town on spring break from Naples, Fla., to visit the others and attend the parade Sunday.
Her aunt, Nancy Egan, said she was glad to have the family together for the St. Patrick's Day Parade, especially following the death of her mother.
“It reminds me how important family is,” she said.
Seven-month-old William Sprague donned a green hat and a “My 1st St. Paddy's Day” bib as he watched the festivities from the arms of his mother, Andrea Sprague of White Marsh. His older sister, Ryleigh, 6, watched nearby.
As the rain subsided and the final marchers passed on their way to the Inner Harbor, Brian Schwarzkopf began taking down the shamrocks he had put up all over a Charles Street bus shelter.
Schwarzkopf, 53 — who said he is Irish despite his German last name — wore a kilt and green Mardi Gras beads. The bus stop has been his group's “spot” for the parade since 2000, when it snowed and they flocked to it for cover.
It came in handy this year, too: Dry inside, they enjoyed bottled water, beer, cookies and muffins.
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