The Day, The Parade

When I was in elementary school, St. Patrick’s Day was one of my favorite holidays. Maybe because I was a slightly sadistic child (or maybe all children are slightly sadistic) it delighted me that for one day out of the year, I could go around pinching people and expect no punishment. Now, in my 20s, St. Patrick’s Day has pretty much been transformed into a celebration of drunkenness.
 
Thankfully, the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Fargo brings back that childhood sense that fun is more than getting trashed and hoping that your digital camera will remember what you can’t.
Since 1996, with intermittent breaks due to weather, the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Fargo has brought the festivities to the streets of downtown.  Now in its tenth reincarnation, the parade is an opportunity not only to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, says event coordinator Scott Dahms, it’s also a great excuse to celebrate the coming of spring. “People are sick of winter and they want to get out and do something…It’s nice to get going—people can get outside and bring their families.”

Perhaps because downtown keeps expanding, events such as this do too. With the largest turnout ever last year, Scott hopes that the event continues to grow. “People get excited. Last year was one of the biggest turnouts we’ve ever had, and hopefully this year, we’ll get even bigger.

From Bonnie Haney’s Irish dancers, candy throwing (or handing out, since as Scott says, “we don’t want any kids getting stuck under cars”), fire engines, and plenty of green, there’s really a lot to look forward to. Since the coordinators really leave it up to the public to decide how it’ll go down, it’s all just one big community improvisation. “It’s basically what people can drum up when they want to get together…Primarily, we just leave it up to people’s creativity.”

Ultimately, events such as this are a great way to bring everyone together. “It’s great to go downtown and especially since we’ve gotten so much work done downtown it’s just nice to get everyone in the corner of the city and just be a community”. So bring out your friends and your families, enjoy downtown and get into the St. Patrick’s Day spirit.  Enjoy yourself, but remember that it is unwise to pinch strangers.