Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 18, 1994 TAG: 9403180160
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Her red face contrasted brightly with the briefly passing green.
In a stroller, her 3-year-old son and his 6-month-old brother huddled together in winter coats, cold and uninterested, ready for lunch. Not even the shrill moan of a bagpipe stirred them from apathy.
At Campbell Avenue and First Street, Chittum and her boys watched, flanked only by a friend and an angry vendor pushing a loaded cart of unsold souvenirs.
A policeman on horseback led the promenade, and a van from a local radio station brought up the rear. In between, about 50 people, wearing their St. Patrick's Day best, marched at a leisurely pace.
The procession passed - from beginning to end - in 45 seconds.
Chittum's disappointment showed in her eyes and her wind-whipped cheeks. She expected more, she said. More people in the parade, more people watching the parade, more to the whole parade event. After all, Webster's Dictionary defines a parade as an ostentatious or pompous display.
Something showy, magnificent.
Chittum shook her head.
"We're going to go get some coffee now," she said.
Meanwhile, the parade vendor rolled his cart in the opposite direction, looking to hook up again with two other vendors. The vendors had come from Pennsylvania, after seeing the Roanoke parade listed in a firefighter's parade journal. They are in the business of parade-hopping to peddle hats, balloons, pennants and related paraphernalia.
Their disappointment showed in their wallets.
The three vendors said it was the smallest parade they had ever seen. They packed up to leave when it was half over. As a group, they said they may have made $20.
The city had charged them $6 each just to work the parade.
"What parade?" cracked Bob Johnson, one of the vendors.
Elsewhere along the route, office workers on their way to lunch paused long enough to watch the parade, which started at noon at First Union Plaza and wound through downtown.
Some office workers braved the weather to step out onto the curbsides in their shirt sleeves. The temperature was 38, with winds of 16 mph, gusting to 25.
But after 45 seconds, they ducked back into the warm indoors.
As few as 10 people came to downtown to watch the parade. John and Mary Jane Gallagher were two of the dedicated. Both Irish, they said they have come out all five years a St. Patrick's Day parade has been held in Roanoke.
"Have you ever attended the parade in Charlotte?" John Gallagher asked. It's a big deal there, he said. They have made it into a real event - something showy.
Added his wife: "People dress up and do crazy things."
Bob Chapman was another dedicated Irishman, half-Irish officially. He brought his 3-year-old daughter, Heather, out for the parade, and he wasn't disappointed. Chapman had been to them before.
He shrugged. "Maybe it will build."
Laban Johnson, the city's special events coordinator, put his best possible spin on the event. The cold probably kept some people away, he said. Plus, the parade is meant to be small, just something to celebrate Irish pride and Roanoke's cultural diversity. "We're not trying to make it into a monster," he said.
"It wouldn't be fun if we had to do a lot of work."
by CNB