I made my first visit to the the Providence St Patrick’s Day parade this year in search of photo opportunities. For many years we have featured bars, pubs, and saloons, and it began to feel a little reductive. And while I am not a fan of parades, what I saw last week was everything a parade should be: short and focused, with great music and dancing and a relatively small contingent of politicians.
The parade featured marching bands with pipers and drums and kilts from the RI Irish Ceilidhe Club and the RI Highlanders . . . I do love a bagpipe. And there were those charming young dancing girls; check out the Tír Na Nog Irish Dance club. The Bank Notes, sponsored by a local bank, rolled by on a flatbed truck, rocking out à la the Dropkick Murphys — I’m a sailor peg, and I lost my leg. Also on hand were the Providence Police Mounted Command and the Providence Hurling Club (must look into that).
Add to all this a St. Patrick straight out of central casting and I knew I had my photos. That this gentleman is posing in front of the seat of government in a state founded by Roger Williams is of course . . . heresy? (Is that the right word?) But author John M. Barry reminds us that “Williams believed Catholics and atheists deserved the same rights to freedom of conscience as others.” (Regular readers know which group I represent.)
In conclusion: This is the parade I recommend for people who don’t like parades.
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Recommended reading: Barry’s “Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty”
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How cool are these guys.