Shamrock gets spiffed up to lead St. Paddy’s parade

For all things shamrock green and growing, most think of front yards and new gardens, but for Mike Shea it’s the St. Patrick’s Day parade and his emerald green 1949 GMC truck.

Shea is one of the founders of the annual Spokane parade, this year celebrating its 30th anniversary, and to commemorate he is having his truck, fondly nicknamed “Shamrock,” custom rebuilt from the ground up.

Shea has been a Liberty Lake resident since 1981. At his lakefront home visitors are greeted by bright green stenciled-painted signs along the walkway: “Friendly Sons of St. Patrick.”

“Did you see my greetings painted outside?” Shea asked. “They’re done by ‘The Leprechaun,’ Mike Cadigan!” he said .

The story of how the parade started is outlined in souvenir programs. But truly, the origins of the popular event must be traced back to Shea’s old truck.

In the early 1970s, he was living in Visalia, Calif., and among the vast farms, barns and mountains, he stumbled across a young man driving an old green truck. “How much for the truck?” he asked. For $300 Shea acquired a classic that would provide years and years of wonderful memories.

“My first memory with Shamrock was with my daughters, then 7 and 9 years old, with some of their friends,” he said. “We were driving to the Sequoia National Park and passed some citrus groves. A young man was selling oranges on a corner, and so I bought a case.

“Do you know the sound of seven or eight girls in the back of a truck with a case of oranges?Oh boy, they were having the time of their life, peeling and tossing orange skins all over the place, laughing … they nearly ate that whole case of oranges!”

In 1979, when Shea, Tim and Tom Finnerty launched the first St. Patrick’s Day parade, Shamrock led the parade. And it has led the parade every year since.

This year, when the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, told Shea they would be honoring the founding members and early supporters as part of its 30th anniversary, he decided to give Shamrock a big overhaul.

Cory Gilbert, of CG Customs in Otis Orchards, was hired to complete a major restoration. It has been three months in the making, but Shamrock will be ready in time to lead the parade.

Shea visits the shop regularly. ” ‘That’s good enough’ is not good enough for me,” Gilbert said. “Mike cares about perfection and every attention to detail and that’s the kind of customer I like because that’s exactly what I care about.”

Shea’s truck has been taken apart to paint and work on in individual pieces. “New chassis, 6 volt converted to 12, new transmission plus overdrive, a 362 rear end, new stainless steel bolts everywhere,” Gilbert said. Some won’t know what all that means, but Shea sums it up proudly: “The Rolls-Royce of pickup trucks.”

Parade chairman and president of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, Patrick O’Connor, said “Mike used his truck to get it going the very first year and he is the anchor for the parade and celebration of spring and our heritage.”

Shea has an infectious smile. But it’s suspected he’s beaming a bit more these days for the parade countdown, this time leading, off in his newly buffed and boosted emerald green 1949 GMC truck.

Erin go bragh!