My Day As A Dignitary
Monroe County Irish American Parade
Stroudsburg, PA
March 24, 1999
For a brief, thrilling moment in time (4 hours), I paraded through town as a dignitary and I loved the honor. I was asked to ride in the front of the Irish American Parade, right before the Irish Wolfhounds. I was with the other dignitaries, all of whom were politicians and Italian. So my presence added some legitimacy to the focus on Irish heritage.
We meet at a local restaurant for breakfast and pints of Guinness. Then we loaded ourselves, now a little buzzed, in to our convertible cars and we traveled slowly down the main street. Lots of people I knew, called to me and asked, "Are you running for public office? Why are you in the parade?" Someone yelled to me, "I'll vote for you cause you have a cool car." Others begged for candy which we were not allowed to throw because of liability issues. Someone got hit in the eye last year by a piece of hard candy. So that tradition has gone to the wayside.
We finished the parade about two miles down the road and were dropped off at yet another bar where we spent the rest of the afternoon. I went home somehow later in the evening.
During the course of the evening, one of the parade organizers slipped and told me that I was being considered as next year's Grand Marshall of the parade. I think my heart skipped a beat with excitement.
However, three months later, I changed jobs and changed geographic locations. So I was no longer a contender to be the Grand Marshall-2000. This is one of my big regrets in life.
