Photo album: St. Patrick’s Day parade

Kevin O'Connell, Jim Bohnhoff St. Patrick's Day parade, downtown Northfield Jim Pokorney
Yesterday’s St. Patrick’s Day parade began on downtown’s west side and wound its way over the pedestrian foot bridge, along Riverwalk to Bridge Square, and then back to the Contented Cow‘s outdoor stage area.

The holy trinity of Kevin O’Connell, Jim Bohnhoff, and Jim Pokorney, after many weeks minutes of planning, once again pulled off this great contribution to Northfield’s legacy of community events.

By keeping the parade entirely on pedestrian walkways instead of having it on Division St. as in years past, no street barricades or police were needed. Therefore, organizers were evidently able to avoid having to file an application 45 days ahead of time and pay the $20 fee required by Northfield’s Community Event Policy.

I thought it was better, actually, as the parade participants and the observing crowd were in closer proximity to one another.  People also lingered much longer afterwards on the Riverwalk and around the Cow’s outdoor stage where live music made the gathering all the more festive. Of course, 80-degree weather helped, too.

Robbie and I both took photos. See our large slideshow of 55 photos (recommended) or SLOW CLICK this small slideshow:

For more:

Angela Lauterbach, Lauterbach Photography, has 21 photos in a gallery on Northfield Patch.

Jerry Smith has 10 photos on the Northfield News website.

See my parade photos from 2005 and 2008 and Bridgette Hallcock’s (Hallcock Photography) photos from 2010.

3 Comments

  1. Sandy Vesledahl said:

    Hey Griff! Thank you for the wonderful parade photos, especially of the O’Bassets of Union Street! Once again this was such a fun day and all three dogs slept away the rest of the day! As we were waiting for the start of the parade, one of the “organizers” of the parade mentioned to me that the City was not going to allow them to have dogs in the parade had they gone the Division Street parade route as they had in past years, he mentioned that he and the other organizers decided they couldn’t leave us out. If this is true, I want to thank the organizers for thinking that all of us who have been bringing our dogs to the St. Patrick’s Day parade for the past several years add entertainment to the already fun event. (we had our poop bags in tow) We also appreciate the organizers allowing us to be a part of the event as we bring dogs from the shelter along as well as our own and it provides them with additional exposure to potential adoptors. We had two shelter dogs at this year’s parade and many people visited with us in regards to them. I’m not sure why the City would not have allowed dogs in the parade as people walk their dogs up and down Division Street on a daily basis. I am hoping this was just a miscommunication of some kind as I would hate to think that the City is not pet friendly as we have often discussed at the PEHS shelter that we would like to have a pet parade in Northfield such as Faribault holds each year. Regardless, thank you to Kevin O’Connell, Jim Bohnhoff, and Jim Pokorney for once again planning this fun event, the O’Bassets look forward to next years parade and fun!

    March 18, 2012
  2. Sandy Vesledahl said:

    One other thing, I also felt it was a lot more fun along the River Walk! Great decision guys!

    March 18, 2012
  3. Kathy Jasnoch said:

    I want to echo what Sandy Vesledahl says and thank the Parade organizers for welcoming dogs in the Parade. I also went home with 3 very tired dogs-it was a big day for my two younger dogs, their first Parade. And we appreciate the opportunity to be out and about with dogs from the Prairies Edge Humane Society. We all had our waste disposal bags on hand, although I was sad to see quite a bit of well “aged” doggie doo doo along the riverwalk from prior to the parade. We promote responsible pet ownership, as well as community pride, both of which were evident on Saturday. Thanks to everyone who made the St. Patricks Day parade happen. Kathy Jasnoch, Director, Prairies Edge Humane Society

    March 22, 2012

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