Good Bye, St. Patrick's Parade, Until Next Year !

The Buzz Bike

The Best Bike in the World!

A year-after-year crowd pleaser!

The end of the train of parade pictures. This is it until next year's parade. It is to be hoped that all y'all enjoyed the images from Greenville Avenue from behind the barricades like most folks!  Even my barricade neighbor could not hold back his love for the Budweiser Trucks!

Next year, I want to ride the Buzz Bike and take pictures of the crowds!




 

Friends and Neighbors at the Barricades

My barricade neighbors had a wireless speaker and it provided some pretty cool music  while waiting for the parade.

A bunch of good kids.

Just as you have seat friends when you go to a Mavs game or a Cowboy's game, at a parade, you have neighbors and friends along a barricade. It was lucky for me to have some good neighbors at the St. Patrick's Parade this past Saturday. The sad part is that at the end, they all posed for a group picture. It was one picture too many as I had shot a SD chip and didn't realize until I was on the train that I had missed the best shot! Luckily, I had some candid shots while the crowds pinned us between the sidewalk and the barricade on the street. One of the group does have a group picture----they got on their cell phone. If you e-mail it to me, I'll  post it addendum to this post. Meanwhile, after tonight, I have one last day of images to post.

Yup! It looks just like the image above but it's not!

 

Nearing the End of the Parade Post

Bagpipes and Firemen!

The Irish Flag in the middle

The other Irish Flag in the middle

Another year of published St. Patrick's Parade pictures is nearing the end. It has been a labor of love because I do enjoy capturing a few precious moments of  a celebration. Since I don't shoot weddings, I make up for it with the Children's Christmas Parade and the St. Patrick's Parade. Then, it's time for the Dragon Boat and Kite Festival, Plano Balloon Festival, Memorial Day Program at a local cemetery, There are  always festivals that fill in the balance of the calendar year.

So, as the St. Patrick's Parade comes to a close for another year, it is a hope that every one has enjoyed the parade highlights.  

Fast Forward from Saturday's Parade

This is what scouts look for in a DO-DA Parade, but St. Patrick's on Greenville is just as much fun!

A participant in the Character Unit with Batman and Superman

Now this really is : For the Love of the Lake!

On this last day of winter, preparing for the little cold snap due this weekend has taken up a little bit of edit time. Prior to today, I had been a bit concerned about my red bud tree that I have pampered from seed. It currently stands about two and a half feet  with one bifurcation about half a foot in length. All the red buds are out and in full bloom. Then, as if by some magic, there are several new shoots of green on the trunk, tip and the bifurcation branch. In line with the showing of the green, my red bud tree has come through right in the nick of time. Hopefully, next year, I should have red bud blooms. The parent plant budded in the third year. Now, I just have to protect it from the possible freeze. The heat island effect should keep temperatures here in the city warm enough. But, you never know what the weather will do and it will be insulated just in case.

Now, I can get back to editing the last group of pictures from Saturday's parade.
 

Day Three Post from St. Patrick's Parade

A Couple Toast the Parade-Goers

Superman !

Rowdy Cowboy?!

It's really been rather hectic this year with the parade pictures. First, I charged up my battery pack and had everything set for the short lens and the long lens cameras. The parade was soooooo good this year, I shot well over 300 images.  Processing that many images is a bit of a chore and that is just sorting out the files. It does not include the posting time and all that goes with that little task.

Today, two full days after the parade, I'm shooting at Fair Park and get the light that my battery pack is low. Usually, I get about three weeks from a charge. That caught me by surprise. So, I walked back to the car to get the short lens camera and to pack away the long lens. As luck would have it.....the guys were surveying the mound where Big Tex usually stands. Not only is he being rebuilt, the mound is going to be raised by six feet. In short, Big Tex is coming back bigger as well as his building up his standing ground.

Then, if that wasn't enough. I had just been over looking at the trains that are going to make up the next consist to be shipped to Frisco. So, since the day was moving along so well........I walked over to the Cotton Bowl because there was a crane lifting steel beams over the front facade. That lined up well with the new ride that is going up. Which is the tower at 500 feet. Men were working on the cable cars. Generally, there was a lot of activity at Fair Park. I turned around and two guys were taking pictures in front of the Cotton Bowl. One ask the question: "Why do they call it the Cotton Bowl?" I knew he wasn't from Texas. I ask him where he and his friend were from. "Ireland", he says!. Later, he said that they were from,"Galway". That's about as Irish as it can be as far as I'm concerned. They had walked from downtown Dallas, having gone through Deep Ellum. I suggested that they take the train back to downtown and pointed out the train station. I last saw them walking along the station fence and I would hope that they did take the train. That's a fur piece to walk.

On Saturday, I had taken the train down to the Park Lane Station and walked from Park Lane to just South of Southwestern, then after the parade walked on to the Lovers Lane station and picked up the train there. I still haven't checked the actual mileage but I'd call it a bit more than a fur piece! !

More Highlights From A Parade

Dart Police at the Blackwell Crossing. The annual fleet of Budweiser Trucks are staged behind the Motorcycles

Addison Fire Department Pipes & Drums Unit

Irving Firefighters Pipes & Drums Unit. The Colony had a Unit also. These Units march as one Pipes & Drums. This year, Ft. Worth had their own unit present and marched separately. Thanks, guys! All of you !

These images are part of a week long posting from the Dallas St. Patrick's Parade. This year, there were nearly 100 units in the parade. These images were taken below Southwestern looking toward Northwest Highway.
 

Make Ready for the Parade

Barricades for Greenville Avenue

It's gonna be a good parade this year!

The Touchstone for March 17th. This one is nearly as old as I am!

The flatbed trailers have started to be stationed so that the police line barricades can go up fast and come down fast for Saturday's parade. The weather is gonna be great, but for a photographer, maybe a bit on the warm side. The temp range started out at near 80 degrees but as the models are refined for Saturday, the hi for Saturday is not set for 83*. The kicker is a stiff wind. That means a baseball hat rather than the wide brim fedora (which I prefer). But the aerodynamics in a stiff wind gets that hat airborne quickly. Rather than chase it or loose it, it's just better to reach in the bag and pull out the baseball had. It's gonna be a water jug day, too.

It took a bit to find the lucky charm, but it has been around for a long time so it's retired and awakened every year like a ritual.