Bit o’ Fun Planned at St. Paddy’s Day Event

Don some green, grab a shamrock, dance an Irish jig and head on down to Ventura’s ninth annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade today.

The parade, including floats, drum and bugle corps, dancers and lots of Irish folks, will begin at 10 a.m. at the San Buenaventura Mission and proceed to the Elks Lodge on Ash Street. In keeping with Ventura tradition, there will even be a green pig.

The theme of the parade, which is expected to draw 30,000 spectators, is “Out of Ireland, 1847-1997, From Famine to Festival.”

A festival of Celtic culture will follow from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday in Mission Park.

The fields and hills of Ventura County are home to many farmers of Irish descent.

Many of those Irish families emigrated to the fertile Oxnard plain and the hills of Ojai during Ireland’s great famine, said Pat Doerner, whose ancestors arrived in Ventura in 1868.

The descendants of the Irish pioneers of Ventura will serve as the honored guests and collective grand marshal for the parade.

But the parade is not just for those with Irish blood in their veins.

“Everybody’s Irish on St. Paddy’s Day--whether by birth, adoption or inheritance,” Doerner said.