Taken by Kandi Kerekes from the Duncan Real
Estate float, shows a portion of the huge crowd
that watched this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
HOLMES BEACH – Anna Maria Island was the place to be for good food, great music and a most colorful parade to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
Sham Rockin’ the Island was well attended Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, according to organizer Cindy Thompson. The festival raised money for the Anna Maria Island Community Center and Center Director Dawn Stiles was kept busy selling tickets for a raffle in the upcoming Affaire to Remember next month.
As Kettle of Fish prepared to perform on stage, cars and trucks, some with trailers and almost all covered in green, gathered in the side street between Holmes Beach City Hall and the festival to prepare for the parade. A huge tractor-trailer pulled in, carrying three stars of the parade – Cora the elephant and two camels.
“It was a little slow earlier, but more people came this afternoon,” said Thompson. “We expect to lose a lot of people after the parade, which is why we did not plan on going much later than that.”
As the starting time neared, people dressed in all shades of green stood around eating, drinking, listening to music and waiting.
“This is the first time we have taken the golf cart in the parade,” said Jamie Adams, who was sporting a pink pig with wings hat on his hat, contrasting with is mostly green attire. “We used to ride bikes, but we decided to decorate the golf cart.”
Ami Brush wore a green blouse with a yellow skirt and her two-year-old son, Jace, wore a kilt of the same colors. They hail from Sarasota and came for the parade.
Out on the side street by the field, Kandi Kerekes, an agent for Duncan Real Estate, stood on the company float with Denise Crown, from New Jersey, who recently took a position with Duncan as an agent. She said she was amazed at the crowd and looked forward to living and working here.
The parade started a little after 4 p.m., and the street from the fire station’s parking lot looked like it could be New York City or Boston. People lined the streets along the parade route, some sitting in chairs and others waving and catching beads and candy from the paraders.
The parade had some interesting floats. One was a small electric car with two small children driving and an adult marching behind with the sign, “The Wee People.”
Sally Sale, of the Laundromat in Holmes Beach, rode in a decorated golf cart making huge bubbles as it drove along.
The two camels marched with each other, but Cora the elephant shared the stage with nobody, marching in front of the crowd whose faces she remembers from previous parades, if the stories about an elephant’s memory are true.
After the parade passed, the crowd broke up, but instead of going home, many returned to Sham Rockin’ the Island to finish their celebration, while others found a watering hole on the Island to contemplate the joys of being Irish.