READY FOR THE PARADE
World’s shortest St. Patrick’s Day parade celebrates community
Kellan (left) Gamarcy and his brother Eason were in the St.Paddy’s spirit at the Carmangay “The Shortest Biggest St. Patrick's Day Parade in the World” on Saturday.
Singer Laura Lyckman gently sings “When Irish Eyes are Dancing” accompanied on the guitar by Kyle Dahl. Both are dressed in green T-shirts and struggle to elevate their music about the general babble of the large crowd which has amassed in Carmangay’s Grange Hotel bar room for St. Patrick’s Day. About 100 people line up for a mug of green beer or a dram of Irish coffee poured out generously by the Grange’s staff. The feeling in the air is one of celebration, joy in community and good humour. Most of the patrons present have just filtered in from the snowy street outside, having just taken part in Carmangay’s famous “Shortest Biggest St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the World.”
The parade certainly lives up to the billing; it takes about two minutes to complete from start to finish. The parade participants spend longer lined up at the door to the bar itself waiting their turn to get in than in crossing the 75 metres of street from the village office across the way. Because this year’s parade took place on a Saturday, a larger number of people have come out than usual, and that is as it should be, says honourary parade marshall Don Miller who, alongside his wife Doreen, led the parade out this year.
“This is a great day,” states Miller, who remembers the first “Shortest Biggest Parade,” which took place 34 years ago with just two participants: Grange bar owner Jim O’Connor and his loyal patron George Johnson.
“It’s the shortest parade and everybody should be here,” Miller says, “and it looks like everybody is today.”
Who is to say which random action might give rise to a 30-year tradition? It could be as simple as two men walking across a street dressed in Irish green, says current Grange Hotel manager Sue Dahl. But the key to a tradition surviving this long is when multiple generations buy into it, as they have done in Carmangay.
“This would be my 21st year at the parade,” says Dahl, “and it has evolved and gotten more prominent. It is just so much fun, and it is so important to the village.
“It brings in people from Calgary, Okotoks, Lethbridge and all over. I just love how everybody comes together and gets green and enjoys the day.”
Mayor Stacey Hovde says it just wouldn’t work without all the community effort which goes into it.
“I want to say thank you to all of our residents and volunteers for putting this event on in the first place,” he says, “and a big thank you to all who are coming out today to participate and support St. Patrick’s Day in Carmangay.”
A light snow is falling on Carmangay as parade goers exit the bar to find their way over to the community market, or to take a bowl of Irish stew at the seniors’ centre.
Nobody seems to mind a little snow, and all hearts are warm with the joy of St. Patrick’s Day in a little village called Carmangay, a storybook kind of place just a little off the beaten path.
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