Salt Lake Tribune - SLC turns Irish for a day
Irish eyes and a sun-filled sky smiled in Salt Lake City as thousands gathered Saturday for the capital's 28th annual St. Patrick's Day parade and festivities. Out came the shamrock pants and sunglasses, green boas and strands upon strands of Mardi Gras beads.
Dee Riggs, 42, of Taylorsville, stood by as a proud member of the ever-growing O'Focker Clan, formed years ago by wannabe Irishmen. He sported a wide grin, the hand-sewn, sequined vest he finished at 1 a.m.
, a hefty Kelly green Afro and, of course, a large plastic cup of beer. Down the street, and less ebullient, was Stretch, whose ears and eyes drooped to the ground. Mounted atop the 13-year-old basset hound's head, though, was a headband - the leprechaun antennae bouncing in the breeze.
A spray-painted green pooch lumbered by, looking only slightly less humiliated. Everyone likes to say they're Irish on a day like this. But the realest of deals, straight from County Tipperary, took their positions in horse-drawn carriages.
About 20 people, nearly half of them teens, traveled from outside Thurles, Salt Lake City's sister city, to take part in the celebration. Leading this charge was Jim Ryan, proprietor of Jim O' the Mills, a farmhouse pub in the rural area outside Thurles. It is in this watering hole that townspeople - young and old - gather, once a week, to play music, sing and stay true to their roots.
friends," said the Rev. Pat Carley of St. Joseph of the Worker Catholic Church in West Jordan, who helped arrange the group's visit.
Having them around, said the pastor known as "Paddy" to those back home and the newest president of the Utah Hibernian Society, is "a reminder of who you are." Bagpipe music filled the air, as did the stomping of Irish dancers. A troupe from South Jordan's Rinceoiri don Spraoi Irish Step Dance School warmed up on a flatbed truck to the sounds of Led Zeppelin.
Gary McDonough, a tweed cap perched on his head, played his Autoharp and speculated as to why he had earned the title of "Hibernian of the Year." "That's a mystery," he said and strummed. "It was passed down from the oracles of ancient Greece.
" The parade wound its way through the sea of green-bedecked spectators who lined 400 West and The Gateway. Children scrambled to snatch candies. Others blew bubbles, waved Irish flags or clung to balloons.
Girl Scouts marched and blew their green plastic whistles. Classic songs from Ireland blared from decorated trucks, one with a sign that read, "Life's Too Short Not To Be IRISH." At the Hellenic Center, where the party - or siamsa - continued, it seemed many Utahns agreed.
People packed the large center to enjoy an afternoon marked by corned beef and cabbage, kegs of beer and live entertainment. Handfuls of Irish step dancers, from the very experienced to the smallest and most confused (but undeniably cutest), took to multiple stages. A pack of girls who had traveled with the Jim O' the Mills group looked on, marveling at the crowds they never expected.
Nearly every one of them held close an Abercrombie Fitch shopping bag, the store they ran to as soon as the parade ended. Debbie Gleeson, 15, was careful not to smudge the henna tattoo on her arm, the one she had just gotten, as she watched a team of dancers. "Their hair is class," she said, referring to the piles of curls (all of them wigs) atop the dancers' heads.
Seeing the confusion on a reporter's face, she laughed, "Their hair is real nice." Soon it was their turn to take the main stage. This group of musicians, self-taught and trained in a rural pub, walked out with their instruments - including fiddles, flutes and the thickest of Irish brogues.
And as they began to play, it didn't matter that they were in a Greek Orthodox cultural center surrounded by Utahns. For one day, this place was Ireland, and they were transporting the sounds of home.
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