There was plenty of green, bagpipes and more shillelaghs than you could wave a stick at in Holyoke as some 350,000 spectators spent the weekend in the Paper City for its annual St. Patrick's Day parade.
28 bands and over a dozen floats made their way down the 2-and-a-half-mile parade route, heading into the city's center as locals and visitors crowded the sidewalks.
"Always excited to see the wonderful bands and whatnot - go bagpipes!” Denise Canora of Connecticut told WAMC.
Decked out in green, Canora said Sunday was her second parade in Holyoke. This time around, she secured a spot right next to the starting line.
Across from her was Christopher Labossiere, dressed head-to-toe in green, complete with a green wig and the flag of Ireland dyed into his beard.
"This is my favorite time of the year, my favorite holiday so I always go all out, especially with the beard and I mean, I don't have hair up to top so I got the wig."
Heading down Northampton Street, before a turn onto Beech Street and on to downtown near the canals, the parade featured a number of floats — including a throne for this year's Grand Colleen, Elizabeth Gourde, with a small stage featuring Irish step dancers behind her.
Also on display — a full log cabin, complete with a small flame for boiling sap as well as a wood-cutting station — all put together by students from Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School in Northampton like Sam Jenkins.
"We built a log cabin out of all the trees and wood and rocks that you see - we collected on our school's wood lot property, and it's all been made by students,” he said.
Also among the floats was U.S. Representative Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the 1st District Democrat, who has worked for years on peacekeeping efforts in Northern Ireland.
He and Attorney General of Ireland, Rossa Fanning dipped into the crowds to shake hands throughout the route.
“If you get pinched in Ireland, you know the Attorney General!” Neal joked as the two officials walked up to the crowd.
Other staples of the parade included mayors from across the region, local fire and police departments, and plenty of high school marching bands.
Closing out the parade that dates back to 1952 — a fan favorite, the local Melha Shriners.
Supporting the parade as well as Shriners Hospitals for Children, dozens of men donning fezzes sped along the rear of the festivities in mini-motor bikes and more. Some took to go-karts that would drive over an apparatus sending the mini vehicles up and over a truck, as described by Ray Turrini.
"This truck here that we're looking is the ramp truck - this is our go-kart unit – they go up and over the truck,” Turrini said. “Then our motorcycle units, our clowns, our mini-monster trucks and our mini-big rigs will be in the parade."
It was a mostly sunny affair, as well. The weather ultimately cooperated with the parade — with sporadic rain in the forecast holding off until the very end.
According to the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute, when combined with the St. Patrick's Road Race, which brought around 7,000 runners to Holyoke on Saturday, the parade weekend injects some $20 million into the local economy.
