The sidewalks of Broadway Street transformed into a sea of green yesterday, as South Boston celebrated its 103rd St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
As winter temperatures began to warm up, revelers of all ages attended the parade, spilling out of the pubs even early in the afternoon.
‘The police tell me 850 [thousand] to over a million people turned out,’ John ‘Wacko’ Hurley, the parade’s chief organizer said, puffing a cigar while making final preparations.
Hurley, a Navy veteran, said this year’s parade, organized by local veterans groups, focused on the armed forces. Members of all branches of the military marched in the parade.
Fire and police officials traveled from across the country to participate, with representatives from the Los Angeles, New York and Keene, N.H. fire departments.
Joe McGlone, a Brooklyn fireman who marched with his colleagues, said he will also march in today’s New York parade, but it is much different from the celebration in South Boston, a primarily Irish neighborhood.
‘It’s nice to see a close-knit community like this,’ he said. ‘It’s very American.’
Between high school marching bands, community groups and unions, ‘The Cycling Murrays’ dazzled the crowd by doing tricks on unicycles.
Local politicians, including city councilors and state representatives, also marched with their families, though House Speaker Tom Finneran and Mayor Tom Menino were noticeably absent.
City councilor Felix Arroyo, wearing a leather cowboy hat to march in his third St. Patrick’s Day parade, said this year’s military focus was timely and appropriate.
‘I think the armed forces deserve our respect,’ he said. ‘I don’t think they should go to war. But that’s not their decision, that’s the president’s decision.’
But war was on many people’s minds as they watched the armed forces march down Broadway and shoot their rifles.
Linda McMaster, a ‘military mom’ from Hanson, Mass., said her son was in Kuwait with the military. She held a sign reading ‘Support our troops’ and cheered on all participants, saying expressions of support for the armed forces were essential.
‘I’m not pro-war or anti-war,’ she said. ‘I’m just here to support the troops.’
Paul Brand, who grew up in South Boston and now raises his family there, said he has attended the parade every year and brings his four-year-old daughter.
‘This is my hometown,’ he said. ‘It’s awesome every year.’
Dave Dugson, a member of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, an Irish community group in New Bedford, said his group marches every year ‘because we have way too much fun.’
‘People like us because we’re quite a rowdy bunch,’ Dugson said. ‘We get the crowd going.’
Goidon Sutherland said he flew in from Scotland on Saturday for a meeting of the Celtic Football Club. He and the other 26 members, decked out in green, led the crowd in Gaelic drinking songs.
‘We don’t really know anything about [this area],’ he said, ‘but it looks like a good time.’
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