Marching with the gang from Fishtown. (Click on photo to view more.)
All along the two-block stretch between JFK Boulevard and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the boisterous, crazy-hatted party-goers crowded along the barricades and hooted and cheered for almost anything and anyone that passed in front of them.
Leprechauns and St. Patricks—a few of them pretty convincing, but most not—paraded past the reviewing stand at Eakins Oval.
McGuinness the huge but affable Irish wolfhound stood at his accustomed post in front of the Subway shop at 17th Street and the Parkway.
Aside from the fact that everyone, from bagpipers to the flag-waving folks on the sidelines, was encased in plastic ponchos or shielded by umbrellas and yet still dripping from head to toe, it was a pretty typical St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the city of Philadelphia.
The crowds were down by a bit, but Celtic spirits were as high as ever as the 240th Philly parade kicked off from JFK Boulevard.
A record 217 groups took part in the 2010 parade. It seemed like you couldn’t walk a block without bumping into a contingent from one of the city’s many Ancient Order of Hibernians and Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians divisions. The AOH was particularly well represented in honor of this year’s grand marshal, Seamus Boyle, president of the National AOH.
All of the area’s major Irish dance schools hopped, skipped and kicked in front of the CBS3 cameras. Pageant queens, high school bands, mummers, union members and county societies all gamely braved the elements.
We’ve assembled a huge collection of photos to commemorate the day. Forgive us if some of our shots look a bit blurry. Try as we did to keep our lenses dry, it was often a lost cause. Many thanks to “Glamorous Gwyneth” MacArthur, our plastic tiara-wearing camera compatriot, for helping us provide our extensive photo coverage.
Also check out a couple of videos:
Check out CBS3’s coverage on the Web:
The parade will be rebroadcast on both stations on St. Patrick’s Day, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon on CBS3, and again on The CW Philly from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The parade is also available for 30 days on Comcast On-Demand starting Thursday March 18, 2010. To access, select the Comcast On Demand menu, then “Get Local” section. Choose “St. Patty’s Parade.”
