Sun brings out the green in CdA parade-goers
Kate Weppner’s llama wasn’t ready Saturday for Coeur d’Alene’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
Dora the llama needs to polish her social skills before she can parade down Sherman Avenue with the family’s other llamas, explained Kate’s mother, Karen Weppner, of Coeur d’Alene.
So as 4-year-old Kate’s older siblings – Keil, Arek and Autumn – paraded with their llamas, the wee Weppner was stuck walking Sherman Avenue with the family’s dog.
Toby the dog could have passed as an Irish pup, with a green bandanna, gold beads and a green leash. No one would have been the wiser if Karen Weppner hadn’t confessed that there wasn’t any Irish blood in the Chinese pug’s lineage.
“But on St. Patrick’s Day, everybody’s Irish,” Weppner insisted.
The hundreds of people who attended Saturday’s parade dressed for the occasion. An elderly man wore a green cardigan sweater and matching polyester pants while a middle-age woman strutted down the sidewalk in a Kelly green leather jacket.
Ilene Moss, grand marshal of the parade, wore a black sweater bedecked with green-sequined shamrocks.
An especially spirited crowd gathered in front of Moss’ downtown store, All Things Irish.
“I’ve been waiting for this parade for a long time,” Moss said.
In its second year, the parade attracted 23 entrants, including a bunch of bagpipers playing “Scotland the Brave,” a float of rowdy revelers promoting green beer at a local pub, BMX riders and seven red-haired Irish Setters wearing necklaces of green garland.
The crowd was larger this year than last, Moss said. Though it rained during last year’s parade, the sun was out Saturday, and some parade-goers wore tank tops.
Ruben Ellerd, a 65-year-old Coeur d’Alene man with a “wee bit” of Irish in him, put on a green bowler and joined the parade.
“I just enjoy all the color and all the fun things that happen on St. Patrick’s Day,” he said. He headed for All Things Irish after the parade with his wife, Sandy Howe.
“Maybe we’ll go to the Irish pub,” he said with a wink.