In Syracuse, this parade marches me toward spring

/ March 18, 2015
Warren Street parking garage.

Where we parked for St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

It was in the 40s Saturday in Syracuse for the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

There was still plenty of snow hanging around. But that didn’t deter thousands of partying people. The 33rd edition of the event was the setting for my weekly community blog for Syracuse Public Media site waer.org. You can read my column by clicking the link below. There are many more pictures, too.

http://waer.org/post/syracuse-st-patricks-day-parade-one-more-step-toward-spring

Nine stories high in downtown Syracuse, N.Y.

Up on the roof with my dear wife Karen.

We saw snow up top in the parking garage, and on the rooftop of Merchant Commons as I shot down on the city.

At ground level, though, we saw people wearing green for the parade.

South Salina Street.

The big crowd enjoys the parade on March 15, 2015, in Syracuse, N.Y.

Kids were happy. Parents were thrilled. Then we got cold and went home. Monday morning, I saw a pedistrian-caught video of a fight later that afternoon a block from the parade route, posted on syracuse.com. The accompanying story said no arrests were made, but the battle was plenty ugly. Too bad yahoos had to linger and brawl. You can Google it if you wish, but I’m not going to put the link here. I don’t want to give the combatants any more publicity.

What are your trademark signs of spring where you live? Do you enjoy big crowds like this or stay away, and why? Would you shoot and post a fight on the street video or run the other way, and why?

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49 thoughts on “In Syracuse, this parade marches me toward spring”

  1. No, I’d never video and post a fight. I think people suck sometimes. Why do they have to cause a ruckus or reward people causing the ruckus by giving them fame for fighting? :/ Kudos to you for not linking to it! 😀

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    • I don’t blame the news site for posting it. That’s what they do. But the fighters suck, and the people who shot it instead of using the phone to dial 911 are a bit suspect … unless others were dialing the police, or the police were nearby, or the intent was to turn the video over. I can’t just blanketly throw those people under the bus, I guess, now that I think about it more.

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  2. Mark, the Phoenix parade consistently has gorgeous weather. The festival that follows is sweet. Everything is very tame, which is great for families. But is it weird to say that I miss some of the crazy connected to the Scranton St. Patrick’s Day parade of my youth?

    Oh, we don’t do spring here. Just (mild) winter and (flaming hot) summer 😉

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  3. Excellent pictures and story Mark. I went over and visited the waer site as well. Great photos from above – it occurs to me that you are becoming like Spiderman : always looking for the high ground and skipping from rooftop to rooftop. We shall soon be getting reports of The Head peering down from the tops of buildings. ha! Well reported my friend.

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  4. We avoid large crowds and parades bc there are no clean restrooms. I hate port-o-potties, and always wind up somewhere, festival or carnival, where that’s all there is. Ew. That’s all I think when I watch Times Square at New Year’s. Where are these people peeing out all their beer? Just another reason why I’m not a half hour south of here at South by Southwest, with Jimmy Kimmel and mediocre bands.

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  6. Apparently, snow. It was snowing on my way to work. It was snowing this afternoon, and it is supposed to snow Friday. I’m knew to this whole northeast thing, but I’m going with snow. Snow is the trademark sign of spring.

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  7. I’m glad you got to go to your parade Mark. Sadly this year we didn’t. But that’s okay. We’ve been lucky and never seen anything but happy revelers. It is sad that there has to be someone out there ready to brawl when others want to have fun and peace. And thank you for not posting the fight!!!

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  8. i would embrace the parade and looks like it was a nice day for your parade. weather is all a matter of luck, i think ) as for the fight, i wouldn’t film it, and would probably run away. i never understand the mentality of fights, nothing good can come of them. here, i’ve noticed the snow melt, the occasional popping up of sprouts and the warming trend. all good!

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  10. Against my better judgment, I watched the video. Disgusting. That’s why people call the Syracuse St. Patrick’s parade “amateur hour.” I bet there are a lot of proud moms and dads in the city after seeing that.

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  11. Nothing says spring like a St. Patty’s Day parade and…March Madness! 🙂 I don’t mind big crowds as long as no one is touching me. And as for fighting, I’d most likely move out of the way and keep my phone in my pocket…don’t want to get caught up in the mess!

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  12. I will be celebrating mightily (because I’m mighty-mighty) on Friday, to welcome in F*&%@ SPRING! We are expecting cold temps but I don’t care. As long as it is officially SPRING, I will feel happy.

    There are always those yahoos who ruin it for the rest! Here at Umass, we have too many of those during the annual Blarney Blowout I’ve talked about before. They are so drunk that they can’t even move but find the strength to throw empty beer bottles at the police. AY!

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    • That is the most awful thing you’ve ever told me here, Mrs. B. Drunk asses throwing empty beer bottles at the police. I am really steamed at the Blarney Blowout B——ds now. Dagnabbit!!!

      Yes. Spring, officially. Oh, my. And you had your two weeks in your warm paradise with all those drinks and kisses. Imagine me and my Mrs. B.

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  13. A tell-tale sign where I live is when the snow melts enough to the point that a lot of the neighborhoods look as if they’re flooding! It’s muddy, but the weather is so warm that I have to walk outside and enjoy it. I can also sense spring when more birds are outside chirping. The weather recently has been so nice.

    I like parades and crowds sometimes. If I saw a fight break out, I’d be running the other direction! I’d be too scared to record it, especially in a large crowd.

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    • I’m glad that you’re getting to walk outside, Rebecca. A little mud is a small price to pay for the warmth of spring, and the song of birds. Ruly crowds at concerts and fests or sports can be fine, even fun to meet like-minded people. Unruly crowds, we want no part of it. Too dangerous

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      • Thank you. I’m glad I’ve been able to enjoy the warm weather. And I agree that I don’t mind the mud in exchange for the sunshine and warm temperatures. I agree that crowds can be fun and entertaining, and long as they’re not dangerous or aggressive.

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  14. There are no “telltale” signs where I live. We were in the 80s last week and today actually feels like spring, 70 degrees, sunny, and breezy. Loving it! I don’t care much for crowds and would NOT post or even video tape a fight. Yuck on violence. 🙂

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      • Oh yes, Mark, you know I was all ready to give my feedback but I wasn’t sure if it was this post you were referring to or if you were going to do a photo post later (maybe duh on my part). So, when you had the trees in the background I noticed that it would take a little while for the trees to appear and then a little longer to actually see the blog (text/photos). This time, it still took a little bit to see the orange (it was orange today, right?) but then the blog came up right away. All over an improvement.

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      • Thank you for the much-needed feedback, Marissa. The sunset is half the data than the tree image was, so that should take half the time to load. Unless it doesn’t work exactly like that. 🙂

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