St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Alexandria, VA – 2010
March 6th, 2010 Categories: Alexandria, Old Town
Today was all about the wearing of the green at the 29th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Alexandria, VA. It didn’t matter your age, nationality, sex or size or if you had two feet or four.
If you wanted to claim a bit of the green it was yours to wear with pride.
Moderate temperatures and bright skies drew record crowds who lined 10 blocks of King Street to see marching bands, beauty queens, Gaelic football teams, the KENA Shriners, Irish dancers, Irish wolfhounds, Alexandria Democrats, Alexandria Republicans, etc. etc.
Sponsored by the “Ballyshaners” (which means Old Towners in Gaelic), today’s parade was dedicated to “those who serve” with General Ann Dunwood, U.S. Army Materiel Command, as Grand Marshall.
Pat Troy, proprietor of Pat Troy’s Ireland’s Own and long time resident of Alexandria, is the guiding force behind the parade as well as its Master of Ceremonies. In fact, half the fun is listening to Mr. Troy’s well honed patter, his rich brogue as strong as the day he left County Kilcormac some forty years ago.
There may be bigger celebrations and parades more famous but St. Patrick’s Day in Alexandria, well, it’s ours.
Erin go bragh!
Michael
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