Dundee parade sports sheen of green
Holding her 7-month-old rat terrier wrapped in a green blanket, Keri Slattery snagged a prime view of the St. Patrick’s Day parade in downtown West Dundee on Saturday morning.
“We love it, it’s awesome” said Slattery, who lives in West Dundee. “We love the small-town feel here.”
More than 40 participants, including local business owners, firefighters, police officers, marching bands, bagpipers and more, took part in the parade before hundreds of spectators decked out in all manners and shades of green.
The parade stepped off just after 11 a.m. at Second and West Main streets and made its way to Rosie O’Hare’s Public House on Water Street in East Dundee.
In past years, the parade was limited to East Dundee. This year, the route expanded to include West Dundee, and the parade was renamed in honor of businessman Thom McNamee, who owned Rosie O’Hare’s until he died of cancer in June 2009.
Among the participants was the 8th Illinois Cavalry Civil War re-enactment group, whose 20-person contingent lined up in formation and fired 52-caliber Sharps carbines into the air, much to the delight of the crowd.
Gina Seaton came to watch the parade with five girlfriends, among them Suzanne Burns, who co-owns Emmett’s Brewing Company in West Dundee with her husband, Andy Burns.
“This is a much bigger scale that in past years,” said Seaton, of West Dundee. “It’s great that it brings more people to support the local businesses.”
In East Dundee, the parade ran into a slight glitch when one of the floats broke down near East Main and River streets, said East Dundee police officer John Theis.
That caused about a five-minute delay in the middle of the parade, which had Sarah Emerson and her teenage daughters almost miss half the event.
“We went back inside (the house) thinking it was over, then I heard a truck and realized there was more,” said Emerson, who lives along the parade’s route on Barrington Avenue in East Dundee.
This year’s parade was bigger and better than in past years, the family said, adding that seeing a green-dyed golden retriever gave them ideas for next year involving their dog, Samantha.