PATROL ONE 2005 OUTINGS

Saturday March 12, 2005

    The meeting point before the actual parade was at Denny's off of 38th and I-25.  We all fill our bellies before the day started.  What started as a beautiful clear Colorado morning, turned into a windy & cool morning, that's typical Colorado weather.  5-Hobos (Patrol 1), and  a Rock Frog (Patrol 9) all from the Mile-Hi Jeep Club, were in the 43rd Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade thru Lo-Do in Denver.  MHJC Hobos wearin' the green in the parade were: Patrol Leader Paul 'WeiszGuy' Weisz (CJ7) with son Brett, Ken Kordes (CJ-5), Pete Ramirez (TJ Sahara), Jeff Simmons (TJ-X), and the newest Hobo (prospective at the time) Charlie Duncan and Family (TJ Sport).  MHJC member from Patrol 9-Rock Frogs included Matt Carson (CJ8), and our Guest was Sam Marcus and his son Daniel (52' mb3a).

    After getting our fill of coffee and 'Grand Slams', we headed to the parade staging area in the Coors Field parking lot.  As we entered there were already 1000+ people lined up and applying their finishing touches to there floats, banners, and routines. There were floats filled with clowns, dogs pulling wagons, Irish dancers, bag pipes and much more.  As time grew closer to start of the parade, the parking lot became more and more filled.  There were representatives from local radio stations, Boy Scouts, classic auto clubs, 4WD clubs, Knights of Columbus and more.

    As the horn sounded it was 10:00am, and you could see the front of the line moving as we all started filing out of the parking lot and onto the parade route. There were tens of thousands of people along the way, sitting on the curb, outside of restaurants, standing on their balconies. Kids cheered as we crawled along, hearing the roar of the engines, and seeing us demonstrate some of the capabilities of our rigs.  We turned on Blake Street out of the staging area and started non-stop smiling and waving!  Then some cowboys on horseback lead some longhorn steer behind us! Wahooo!........On we go in the parade!

    This was the 3rd year for the parade route to Lo-Do from downtown. I hear the police recommended it probably because it was easier to manage. The bars liked it too. The parade start was at 27th and Blake, down to 17th, right to Union Station and back to the parking lot. Seemed really short in length.

    What seemed to be a long wait to start, was worth every moment. Everyone from the people watching to the participants were glad to be there to celebrate the Irish holiday. The time on the actual parade route seemed too short, but makes the chance to participate in next year's parade, that much more exciting.  Once we finally got started, and into more crowds further south, it was pretty fun.  Everyone waved back as we all waved to the crowd. All I saw were positive attitudes from everyone on the street. I hope it reflected the same about MHJC. Paul, Pete and Matt entertained the crowds at center stage with some tire climbs, while just behind us, their attention turned to the 10 loose steer walking behind us!

    We made our way to the viewing area at the SE corner of Coors Field. Channel 2 (WB2) had planned on televising the parade from 11am-1pm. This year, we got on as they mentioned the MHJC, talked about the good things we do, and said that are always looking for new members. The crowds were thicker on Wynkoop to Union Station, as it seemed there were a lot more people than last year too! Then as soon as we started, it was over. We headed behind Coors Field back to the staging area to un-decorate.

    Though fairly short, running in the parade was still a lot of fun and well worth it (to see and be in!). We hope to run next year too (our 4th year!), it was nice being near the front this year. The weather was nice, the crowds bigger, a good time had by all, and hopefully project more positive PR for MHJC.