March 17 Photo: Green



Participants in the Parade





A birthday party of parade participants



Today's photo challenge was green. Pretty obvious, eh?

Is the Smallest St. Patrick's Day parade is in Carmangay, Alberta?? Or is it in Enterprise, Alabama.  Well, the fact that their parade is only one person - I guess you could say smallest, but then Carmangay must be the Shortest. Shorter than 98 feet - which is the distance of the parade over a bridge in Hot Springs, Arkansas? Or is it shorter than 72 feet, 8 inches? That is the distance of the parade in Bemidji, Minnesota.

Well, this parade has been going on for 26 years now and locals insist its status as the shortest parade is uncontested. For 2012, it had more participants in the parade than ever before. I think the press coverage helped as well as the fact that St. Patrick's day fell on a Saturday.  I was visiting in Magrath the night before and heard about it. Since I was heading to Champion in the morning, the next town over, I knew I had to stop! 

Participants began in front of the post office and walked the 100 metres to the Grange Hotel for a green beer if you so choose. The parade consisted of musicians including bagpipes and a bodhran, followed by every town member who put on some green and then a green truck labelled "The Paddy Wagon" and a pair of miniature ponies pulling a wagon with hay bales (the kids enjoyed a ride after the 1.5 minute parade).

Shortest in the world or not - it was certainly a fun stop on my drive. 

Some wee participants!

The CBC Lawnchairs