If you have been downtown in the last week or so you might have noticed a rather colorful sign on the southwest corner of the courthouse lawn. A rather fun fact: the sign was designed and created by 213 Mercantile, while all paint was provided by House to Home Designs. The frame it is on was made by Davis Welding and it was powder coated by Davinci Powder Coating. That is about as local as it can get, which I love. But what does the colorful sign say? It has the word sláinte. 

If you are a bit more than honorarily Irish once or so a year, you probably know that sláinte translates to “health” in Irish. In Irish, as in French, Spanish, and other languages, “health” is used as the common saying when toasting with friends and family over drinks, like when we say cheers.  

This upcoming Thursday is St. Patrick’s Day. The day has religious celebrations: it commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. Perhaps more recently, and more accurately in the United States, it celebrates the heritage and culture of Ireland. Approximately 17% of the population of Green County has Irish heritage. During my time in Monroe, I have always been pleasantly surprised to meet an Irish immigrant or two and hear from volunteers with Irish heritage who even have cousins still living in Ireland.

Despite these connections, I have not had much luck confidently pronouncing sláinte. A YouTube video online by a French person definitely did me no favors, but sláinte seems especially appropriate this year. The St. Patrick’s Day Parade was the first event that was canceled in 2020. And it is one of the last events that we have not yet brought back. Our summer kickoff event in June should take that honor. But this St. Patrick’s Day, we have over 30 groups participating; making this one of our bigger parades. It starts at 5:17 p.m. The parade’s long-time organizers, Jim and Veronica Bruce, are once again helping organize it, along with Andy Hill (Toy Haus) and Tracy Hamilton (Heartland Graphics). The group behind the Celtic Pub Crawl, which is happening today (Saturday, March 12) is sponsoring it. 

The parade, at its earliest origins, predates Main Street. A couple decades ago, Mike Ganshert held an unofficial parade to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. I’m so happy to write that Mike will be serving as the parade’s Grand Marshall, while Layla Hummel Packham (Monticello) will serve as this year’s Queen of Green. Both were scheduled to participate in those positions in 2020. 

While I am not Irish, my red beard was originally just going to lend itself to St. Patrick’s Day; a way of being honorarily Irish in March. Then, it became my pandemic thing. Two St. Patrick’s Days later, I still have it. But now, for the first time since I decided to embrace my ginger genes, I am reminded a bit more about what makes this parade specifically so fun. Celebrating community, enjoying music, eating corned beef after, finding a shamrock shakes just before it starts, having a drink or two of something Irish I don’t normally drink. Possibly being a bit zany in green or green, white, and orange outfits. 

I cannot promise my self-defined St. Patrick’s Day beard will stay or that I will confidently say sláinte, but as we get further into spring 2022, I sincerely mean it and am embracing all that it represents. So sláinte. I hope to see you downtown this Thursday. 

—  Jordan Nordby is the executive director for Main Street Monroe. He can be reached at MonroeMainStreet@tds.net. Complete details on Main Street Monroe and its efforts can be found at mainstreetmonroe.org.