Emerald energy
Green theme spreads across town during parade
Karen Peterson
Women decked out in green walk the parade route in a homemade roller coaster. Story and photos by Karen Peterson Valley Journal see page 2 Emerald energy
Karen Peterson
Isabel Bartels, 6, sees the parade coming.
Karen Peterson
Green sheep from the Mission Mountain Sheep Dairy follow the parade route.
Karen Peterson
Green sheep from the Mission Mountain Sheep Dairy follow the parade route.
Karen Peterson
Green sheep from the Mission Mountain Sheep Dairy follow the parade route.
Karen Peterson
a line of children hold onto a rope to stay together and wave to the crowd.
Karen Peterson
A balloon artist gets a ride.
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
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RONAN – The sidewalks filled with people coming out to watch the St. Patrick’s Day Parade as it flowed down Main Street on Friday.
“We can’t all be Irish, but we can pretend,” Pam Baird said, wearing a set of wobbly leprechauns on her head as she waited for the parade.
Her grandson, Colton Wikstrom, 11, wore a super-large green top hat. He was getting ready to collect candy. His mom, Summer Wikstrom, was wearing wobbly green shamrocks.
The Ronan Irish Community organized the parade, like they have for 28 years, but this year was a bit different. The group’s headquarters is usually at the Pheasant Lounge, but it burned down last year along with the “Winners’ Cup.” The cup is given to the best overall parade participants every year.
“It melted in the fire,” said Carlene Bockman, TRIC member.
The base from the original cup was used to create a new one to continue the tradition. The winners can fill it with their choice of drink at the adult celebration after the parade.
Bockman thanked several people for helping this year, including Rod Smart at the Second Chance “for giving us a home while our old headquarters is being rebuilt,” Bockman said. She also thanked Laurie and Alan Grenier for reconstructing the Winners’ Cup.
Best Kids’ Float went to Lake County 4-H, Palmer’s Green Horse was the Most Irish Animal, Best Walkers were with Lake County 4-H, Best First Timers were the Nez Perce Tribe, Most Irish was O’Leary’s Old Ladies, the Most Likely to Cause a Riot went to Second Chance Saloon. The Greenest went to the Valley Club, and the Best Irish Attire went to the O’Leary’s Old Ladies. The Valley Club was given Most Shamrocks, and Most Likely to Spend the Night in Jail went to the Second Chance.The Best Overall float and the Winners’ Cup went to the Pheasant Lounge.
Before the parade, two cars were towed on Main Street. The City of Ronan has a new ordinance that prohibits parking along the parade route. Ronan Police Chief Ken Weaver has explained that the ordinance allows people to see children darting onto the road to collect candy and allows emergency crews room to get to an accident if needed.
The Ronan Volunteer Fire Department emergency tones did ring out during the event, but the call turned out to be a false alarm. However, during the 2016 Ronan High School homecoming parade, the department was called out to a wreck, causing the football team to hurriedly scramble off their rides atop the fire engines.
