Fiddlin' in Paducah KY

A bit of Irish inspired music following Paducah's Oktemberfest and Zombie Walk on a very warm October 15th evening downtown near the Ohio River. This talented musician was excited to play a selection of three songs - "Young Ned of the Hills", "Streams of Whiskey" and "Rocky Road to Dublin."

SaPaDaPaSo's Smiling Irish Style

Add warm (hot) weather plus a weekend, plus a holiday and you get an overflowing St. Patrick's Day celebration in 42N's Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Green was everywhere. Tens of thousands of people and pets came downtown to see or be part of the largest parade in city history. Float applications had to be turned down because of the number of participants in the parade exceeded existing city permit allowances.

Locally the SaPaDaPaSo (St. Patrick's Day Parade Society) stages the celebration with a huge parade and followup awards meeting. Basically its an opportunity for mass celebration, silliness and the sipping of adult beverages.

Outside of society and commercial float themes, like the local Girl Scouts, fire departments, civic groups, etc., other parade constituents made their fun too. Families of Irish descent marched along pleas for cash donations for illness and fire victims. This orange trimmed leprechaun was recently talked into being his float's main focus as he just became engaged. Oddly, his fiancee did not join him on the float. Perhaps his Irish luck was not too lucky. Know that.