Irish Whimsy on Parade in Ventura

It was the kind of St. Patrick’s Day parade that might puzzle the good saint himself.

There was a green Dalmatian trotting between floats, for example, and two Celtic cone heads dancing in the street.

“We’re Irish cone heads from the planet Blarney,” chanted Diane Callahan and Auggy Donlon. Wearing emerald plastic, they were pointy-headed members of float No. 25, the Irish Fun Girls, who did a takeoff on the old “Saturday Night Live” characters.

While the Irish Fun Girls won some laughs, the first-place award for humorous float went to the Look Again Look a-likes, a group of actors posing as Elizabeth Taylor, Barbara Bush, Barry Manilow, Bette Midler, Al Yankovich, Pope John Paul II and Barry Manilow.

About 7,000 people watched 76 entries on Ventura’s Main Street during Saturday’s fourth annual County Ventura St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Unlike last year, when a giant inflatable green pig ran out of hot air, there were no problems to take the steam out of this year’s parade.

But parade co-founder James Monahan, a Ventura city councilman, said the event drew a smaller crowd than last year, possibly because the 10 a.m. start time was earlier. Downtown merchants had asked for the change to minimize the impact on business, Monahan said.

“I think it hurt the crowd. It’s a little light,” he said.

Even so, there was more sunny weather than you could shake a shillelagh at, Grand Marshal Brian O’Connell said, noting that a rainy forecast had failed to come true.

O’Connell wore a green top hat and waved a black shillelagh-- a sort of cudgel--at the crowd as he led the parade from atop a green Jaguar.

The former commanding officer at the Naval Construction Battalion Center at Port Hueneme, O’Connell left Ventura County for Washington three years ago. But he said he did not want to miss a chance to return, since the Seabees are celebrating their 50th anniversary at the base.

Besides, he added, “When your name is O’Connell, you tend to show up at these things.”

Pat Clark, another parade co-founder, said many families who fled Ireland during the potato famine eventually came to California. About 300 Ireland natives came to Ventura County in the 1850s, one of them her ancestor, Michael Hugh Clark, who had fled from County Monaghan.

Michael Farrell, a descendant of the Leonard and McGrath families, said his family also left to escape famine.

“There are a lot of people who, instead of thinking about that, are just happy that we left,” he said. “They’re just happy to have a day to celebrate.”

Music was a big part of Saturday’s celebration. Santa Paula High School’s marching band, for instance, played a lively rendition of “Danny Boy,” winning first place in the music category.

And that ubiquitous veteran of countless parades--exercise and health enthusiast Gypsy Boots, 81--also put in an appearance, shaking his green tambourine.

“Did you see me stand on my head?” he asked one parade watcher, who stared back blankly.

Many of the people who lined the street to watch the 90-minute show were pleased with the home-grown lineup.

“I love it,” said Vincent Piecha, 63, of Oxnard, who had donned a leprechaun’s outfit, complete with tam-o’-shanter and curly toed shoes to watch the parade. He carried his pet Chihuahua, Chiquita, who also sported a tam and a green knit vest.

“I’m Polish, but today I’m Irish,” he added. “I drink a lot of green Scotch, green tequila and green beer.”