Annual parade brings communities together

Intermountain Catholic

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Saint Patrick Parish was among the many Catholic groups that participated in the 2014 Saint Patrick's Day parade in Salt Lake City. IC photos/Laura Vallejo

SALT LAKE CITY — As people attend the annual St. Patrick’s Parade in downtown Salt Lake City, they may think that the floats were built in a snap.

But that can be far from true. People invest days and many hours deciding first the theme of their floats, and then another good chunk of time building them.

For the Saint Vincent de Paul School community, the parade this year helps them to continue the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the school.

"People will be wearing shirts that say ‘Good as Gold’ during the parade," said Ali Barber, the school’s Home Association School president. The shirts were part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the school.

The float’s theme was "We Found the Gold."

The kids were excited to participate in the parade and helped build the float, Barber said. Also, the school band played in the parade. "This enhances their school experience," said Barber.

To prepare the float, parents and students gathered at the school gym two days before the parade. Some were cutting paper, others gluing, others painting. Everyone was active and enjoying every moment.

"It’s pretty fun to be on the float and represent the school. I enjoy it a lot," said Patrick, a 6th-grade student. "I am going to play my instrument on the float."

"It’s really exciting," said Holly Wharton, whose children are students at Saint Vincent.

Wharton was helping assemble all the gold letters that surrounded the float. For her, helping to build the float not only helped the school but also allowed her to share moments with her friends and the kids at the school.

"I have found just as many friends here as my kids have," Wharton said.

The float’s theme came from a fundraiser event that the school had some weeks ago, said Mary Jo Ahlin Falkner.

"This is a great year for us. Everything is gold. … It’s great that we were able to tie the theme of the fundraiser with the parade."

This year the parade grand marshal was John Welsh, Hibernian Society founder, the society’s first president and parade coordinator.

The Catholic community was well represented in the parade, with floats from various schools and parishes such as Blessed Sacrament, Saint Joseph the Worker, Saint Ambrose, J.E. Cosgriff Memorial, Saint John the Baptist, Juan Diego, Judge Memorial, Kearns-Saint Ann, Saint Patrick, Saint Joseph, the Skaggs Center, Our Lady of Lourdes, Saint Vincent de Paul, Saint Olaf and Saint Francis Xavier. Catholic organizations such as the Knights of Columbus also marched in the parade.

The Most Reverend John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City gave the blessing at the parade.

"Loving God, we ask you once again to bless us while we gather to celebrate our annual St. Patrick’s parade. … We give you thanks for this opportunity and for all of those who participated and made this such a wonderful event in our community [and for] all those who have made this wonderful event possible in our community. We give God thanks for the Irish people, the Irish culture, and we particularly give thanks for the great gifts that they give to all of us in the world. We thank you. We pray that within the spirit of Saint Patrick, each one of us will be part of the new evangelization," said Bishop Wester as the parade started.