Erin Go Bragh!

I'm sitting in the MoJo Coffee House at the corner of Race and Magazine Streets (this used to be a different coffeehouse before the storm but that suffered a "downsizing" so now it's being started up by someboody else) drinking coffee and chicory and using the WiFi. A few minutes ago a motorcycle cop pulled up to the corner to stop traffic and shortly afterward a long line of giant Mardi Gras style floats (only piled more with Cabbages - yes REAL cabbages - instead of, or in addition to, beads) started lining up along the street and around the corner.

This is the Irish Channel St. Patrick's Parade and it's the first event in a week of festivities (another parade tomorrow, three parades on St. Patrick's Day, a HUGE block party at Parasols and of course the party/parade at Molly's at the Market). For me, it's going to be the first St. Patty's Day in 18 years that really belongs to me, and I think it's time to start a new tradition!

Today's parade wends it's way through my neighborhood, a place commonly known as The Irish Channel. It is the neighborhood where Irish workers settled when they came to New Orleans in the 19th and early 20th century, making it the largest Irish immigration point in the U.S. outside of New York.

The parade doesn't start for another three hours, but people (paraders and watchers) decked out in their full St. Patty's Day regalia are already prowling the streets and staking out territory. I better get home and get my Irish beads!

It may be Lent, but that doesn't mean the parties have to stop COMPLETELY... not in this town.