Iowa Girl on the Go

There were times this afternoon, standing on the route of the Des Moines St. Patrick’s Day Parade, that I thought for sure the crowd was more interesting than the parade itself.

And, I asked myself, since when do so many people own a St. Patrick’s Day costume? It felt an awful lot like a green Halloween, what with the green hair, green and white boas, oversized sunglasses, green striped knee socks, tutus, giant green hats, beads, leis, and the inevitable “Kiss Me, I’m Irish” T-shirts. (I was amused by one shirt that said “Kiss Me Anyway.”)

The parade, sponsored by the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, started at the state capitol, went over the Locust Street Bridge, and ended at the Marriott at 6th and Locust.

I guess I’m a parade snob. I’m rarely impressed by a local parade. I think the organizers use weak criteria for deciding who gets in — or maybe they have no criteria at all and anyone who signs up gets in. I will never understand the random vehicles that ride in these parades. In today’s parade, for example, there were limos and semis with no decoration nor tie to the holiday. There were LOTS of tricked-out party buses, some with little or no sharing o’ the green. And people just sort of walking along, looking less interesting than the crowd.

But there were some good entries, too. A fun entry by Hounds Haven Basset Rescue featured adorable, costumed basset hounds. One of the few true floats in the parade was a replica of three taverns in an Irish village — very cute. The men in kilts were fun — but aren’t kilts more of a Scottish thing? I enjoyed each attempt at Irish music and dance, even if it wasn’t all that great.

As usual, I got bored and left before the parade was finished.