Erin Go Splash : Olympic Aquatic Medalists Highlight Mission Viejo’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade

It was three days early, but there was plenty of wearing o’ the green Saturday for the county’s biggest celebration of St. Patrick’s Day as bands, children, clowns, floats and local celebrities paraded before thousands of spectators.

A fleet of DeLorean sports cars made in Ireland competed with local beauty queens for the attention of parade-goers who lined Marguerite Parkway.

But it was the city’s salute to its famed Nadadores swimming and diving team that made spectators gleam with pride at Mission Viejo’s 23rd annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Six Olympic medal winners and two coaches, the most number of grand marshals ever in the parade, waved to spectators who lined the milelong route alongside Lake Mission Viejo.

Gail Stephens, 35, watched her brother, Brian Goodell, a two-time gold medal winner in 1976, go by in a convertible as she sat in a beach chair nearby.

A lifelong resident of Mission Viejo, Stephens said she and her family attended the first St. Patrick’s parade in 1969, “when it was just a couple of neighborhood groups.”

“It’s just such a blast to see it 20 years later as a legitimate parade,” she said as she held her 7-month-old daughter in her lap.

The other grand marshals were: gold medal winners Tiffany Cohen, Sammy Lee, Rich Saeger and Michael O’Brien; bronze medalist Wendy Williams; swim coach Terry Stoddard, and diving coach Janet Ely-Lagourgus.

Though other local notables such as Mayor Sharon Cody and City Council members appeared, youngsters outnumbered adult participants as countless school bands and Scout troops marched by.

“One of our goals is to have every kid in Mission Viejo say they had the opportunity to be in the parade,” said John Ben, parade announcer and past president of the Mission Viejo Activity Committee, which sponsored the parade.

About 400 student musicians from junior high and high schools in Mission Viejo joined forces as the largest marching band in the parade.

Their first practice together had not occurred until a few hours before the parade started. They wore uniforms from their schools and drew the crowd’s applause.

The parade’s biggest crowd-pleaser, however, was a group of 150 youngsters ages 4 to 14 in matching silver hats and white gloves, singing along with a recorded version of “That’s Entertainment.”