The St. Patrick’s Day party in 5 Points is just a week away, and as Tina Fey would say on “30 Rock,” I want to go to there.
And I’m hoping that I can find a new T-shirt like the one I bought at the 2007 fest, which still stands in my memory as the most awesome one ever. My brother-in-law (who was in town for my son’s wedding, that night — it was a very memorable day) and I had an awesome time. Not quite as awesome as the time Frank the Tank had at the party in “Old School,” but right up there.
You can see the back of it above, and the front below (from when I thoughtlessly wore it to the Italian Festival one year).
As you can see in the above pic, it’s getting a bit worn. That’s because it’s my very favorite weekend shirt. So a new one would be in order. I’ve written to the folks at Newcomb Graphix, hoping they’ll have a stall at this festival. If not, I’ll be hoping for next year.
Speaking of next year — I keep thinking that one year it would be cool to have a bradwarthen.com float in the St. Pat’s parade. We could dress up my battered pickup truck. Anyone game to ride in the bed and throw trinkets at the crowd?
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That’s a good-looking shirt. It looks like a beer label. I’m not sure the Five Points Association even has an official design anymore. This year I’ve got the Gamecock wearing a little Leprechaun hat. I’m in for the float, but they won’t let you throw things to the crowd. You can walk and hand things out.
My wife and I are excited about St. Pat’s as well. Our first real date was the very first St. Pat’s in Five Points in 1982, so it’s special to us. We even did the parade thing for a few years. We decorated our Gem car and waved to the crowd. On the wall behind me is the 2008 Green Award we won that year. If you’re going to win an award for the St. Pat’s parade, it ought to be the Green Award. And just sitting on the curb watching the Shaggers we made the photo gallery for The State a couple of years back. I couldn’t pick out a Most Awesome fest. There have been too many. And lots of the early ones are kinda fuzzy, except that one where it was bitterly cold and wet in the morning–1987, maybe?
There are two things I miss from the early years. They used to try to bring in some Irish music. The last couple of years there’s been a few guys who perform early in front of Starbucks for maybe 30 minutes and that’s it. They also used to have more cover bands that played just party tunes. Now everybody is doing original stuff, which I like, but sometimes I want to hear Wild Thing and Louie, Louie. I’m really looking forward to hear Trent Jeffcoat on the WCOS stage.
My neighborhood has marched for several years as the University Hillbillies. It is probably too late to register for the parade, but y’all are welcome to walk with us. We have tons o’trinkets. You aren’t allowed to throw them. You have to hand them off. They are afraid of kids running out to grab them and getting run over.
“You aren’t allowed to throw them. You have to hand them off. They are afraid of kids running out to grab them and getting run over.”
This is what’s wrong with America.
Older Americans would have simply thought parents should be attentive to their small children around unwieldy vehicles.
Or asked that the tossers really put some arm in it and aim for the curb, not scatter the candy under the float wheels…
You know that every one of these rules arose because so done got injured!
Someone
The reasonable “rule” would be for those on the float to throw the candy. And the parents of the children to keep an eye on them.
Like with almost everything in life, responsibility is a two-way street.
Making rules is an endless exercise. Yes, floats are potentially dangerous because no one has a clear view and no one is really paying attention. So vigilance and common sense have to prevail. That’s life. This is more like having 42″ high railings instead of 36″ high ones – and that made sense where the 24″ high ones were replaced as they were more of a tripping hazard. So now we exist in cages; and we are not any safer for it. Certainly, we have lost a lot of the life in life.
Throw the candy. Let the kids reach and squeal and laugh and smile. And parents, keep an eye out for your children.
1995 St. Pat’s is where I first discovered Jump, Little Children, whom I love, and followed around like a maniac for a few years while in grad school. And they did play some irish music then.
There’s not enough beer in all of Ireland to get me down to 5-points on St. Patrick’s Day.
Didn’t it used to be free to get in? Even that was overpriced.
That was when all the college kids could legally drink.
Yeah, it used to be free to attend, now that they’re charging I guess it’s just for the rich folks to attend. Maybe they’ll allow EBT cards to be used for admission and for food and drinks.
I got a nice, prompt reply from Nick Menger at Newcomb Graphix. Unfortunately, they’re not going to be there this year:
Brad – If you know what you want, you can make one up and get it printed on CafePress…
Y’all did read about the guy who got killed after the football game when his buddy ran over him, right?
Kathryn – But as I understand it, he was allegedly punched or pushed, not diving under the pickup truck to retrieve candy or trinkets….