St. Patrick's Day Parade

On Saturday, Emily marched in the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in Hartford with her dance academy.  We've never been to a St. Patrick's Day parade before and I have to say, I was stunned by the number of people there.  According to the newspaper, more than 40,000 spectators lined the parade route, and I believe it!  Neither Emily nor I knew what to expect when we arrived at the designated time and location.  All I knew was that children under 10 had to have a parent with them - and that the fact that I agreed to do this shows the true measure of my love for Emily, as normally, I would do everything in my power to avoid being in a parade.

Just a few of the students and parents - we were some of the earlier arrivals.

Over one hundred dancers from her school were there and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how they were going to do any sort of dancing in the parade.  Well, apparently, Griffith Academy puts on an award winning parade performance every year and they know exactly how to organize.  When it was time for us to line up in the parade, the instructors made four long lines of students, with parents at the end.  

They "galloped" in the lines along the parade route until they received a signal from the truck in front.  Then, the two lines on the left would turn to the left and the two lines on the right would turn to the right, all of them facing the crowd.  When the music started, the dancing began!

I am standing three-quarters of the way down a line of dancers and you can't quite see the beginning of the line.  It was pretty amazing.

I just wish I could have shown how high the older kids were kicking - well over Emily's head every time!!!

This video was pretty early on, when everyone was still getting their bearings.

The last half mile of the route goes through an area filled with bars.  The sidewalks - which had barriers to keep the onlookers from getting into the streets - were overflowing with people and the crowd was really pushing into the parade.  Each of the older students took a younger student by the hand, as if to protect them.  It was actually very heartwarming to see.  Anyway, despite how loud they all were, the crowds were generally well behaved - and, they literally roared with approval each time the students danced. 

This was one of the last times they danced - note the older kids holding Emily's hands.  I couldn't believe that she was still going strong, as they must have run through this jig at least twenty-five times during the parade.  Between the dancing and cold (you can hear the wind), she was completely exhausted when the parade was over, but exhilarated as well!