St. Patrick's Day in Kalispell

Yes.....they do celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Kalispell, MT. I'm told that this is a MAJOR holiday in Montana, so I guessing that means the bars are full tonight, and every restaurant is serving corn beef and cabbage (yuck!).

But one of the big traditions is that every town holds a St. Patrick's Day parade.....and Kalispell is no different. So this afternoon I headed downtown to enjoy the parade and the people attending. Particularly the little kids. Those who know me, know I'm not a "kid person", but the enthusiasm and excitement from the kids is just infectious.

This little boy was in front of me, and to watch him spot a piece of candy (and believe me, he didn't see half of what was around him) and run out to get it, and then scurry back to mom.....it was really adorable. Parades have really turned into another form of Halloween for kids -- they come with bags to scoop up all the candy. Of course, I snap up a piece or 2 myself.


The parade started out with the bagpipe band, of course.






















In any Montana parade, you must have horses -- and apparently a tractor as well.























Then there were dancers (traditional Irish tap dancing -- thinking Lord of the Dance?), as well as roller skaters (does Kalispell have a Roller Derby?).
























And I believe these guys are Leprechauns running around in their green suits (I particularly loved the shoes). Kids loved them -- they had candy!! But where was the green beer?