St Patricks Day in Denver

We were planning on going away for the weekend to celebrate Yasemin's birthday - but Lunden our neighbour made me promise to change our plan so that we could join in the celebrations, and also take the opportunity to watch her daughter Maeve, perform with her Irish dancing troupe.

Unfortunately, Max had to be collected from school on Friday because he had a serious fever - which continued into the early hours of Saturday morning - 103.8 is extreme, although the paediatric nurse at the children's hospital told me not to bring him into the ER until his temperature reached 104! It wasn't looking good for Max in terms of making the parade.



We all love the way Americans celebrate big events. St Patricks day is no exception, Denver has the second largest parade in the United States - and wow, what a parade! Yasemin and I joined  the estimated 250,000 people including kids with hair dyed green and loud beer-swilling St. Patrick's Day revelers for the 50th Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade  on Saturday morning.

The footpaths were lined with men wearing lime-green knickers or kilts, teenagers with their faces painted green and children holding green helium-filled balloons.

Yasemin started the morning eating green fairy floss as cheers echoed down Blake street as the McTeggart Irish Dancers tap-danced in the middle of the street. We watched Flat-bed trucks, floats with pots of gold and musicians playing violins.

Tiffany is the Denver St Patricks Day Parade Queen Colleen and plays for the Michael Collins Pipe and Drum Corps - she is featured in the following video. (This is for you Mum!)

The highlight for Mummy was being dragged into the centre of the parade and being branded on her butt by a wild cowboy as he hooted and the crowd cheered!

The following YouTube video gives you an idea of what the crowd was like....

But the highlight of the parade was definitely the quick glimpse of Maeve dancing with her troupe!

After the parade, Yasemin and I headed home to check on Max, who was waiting to see the photos from the parade.

After a short break before Auntie Susan picked us up for the first stop of the afternoon - Shorties Sports Bar. We arrived to a packed bar where the most amazing Irish Stew, Corned-Beef Burgers and Green Pitchers of beer were on offer for free. I decided to sample the Margarita's while we watched the amazing Irish Dancing.

We moved on and went to another pub to watch the Maeve and her fellow Irish Dancers and have some dinner. Maeve is an amazing dancer and it was a treat to share the day with her. This was definately the best St Patricks day ever!