SOCIAL NOTES & NEWS FROM YOUR FRIENDS IN THE 570
Scranton: green really is your color
You can be green with envy, but it doesn’t become you unless you’re talking about the fabulous emerald get-ups like the ones we saw at the St. Patrick’s Parade in Scranton on Saturday. If you stayed home because you thought it was a bit too chilly, toughen up! Even our delicate city butterfly braved the cold for 9 a.m. mimosas at The Keys before dancing into the Banshee to bust a move on the dance floor.
And while we bundled up for our morning pub crawl, we witnessed more than a few, shall we say, “cheeky” moments along the streets of downtown Scranton. We couldn’t help but notice several saucy, Parade Day vixens who took the opportunity to show some skin in honor of St. Patrick ala micro-minis, Daisy dukes and “dresses” that we think were intended to be oversized shirts. Although distracted wondering how their bums didn’t freeze into tush-sicles, we did a double-take and moved on. There was much more to see in the Electric City, such as the amazing floats, pipe and drum bands, dancers, cyclists and even dog rescues. (We wanted to take them all home with us!).
As the parade stepped off at 11:45 a.m., we rushed over to Mulberry Street to find our place in the line-up. We shimmied through the flood of green hair and shamrock bandanas, stopping for a photo opp with Tux, the mascot for the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, and then exchanging pleasantries with John Culkin (aka DJ Cadillac and a recent ec and dc cover model. Remember the guy who got a pie in the face?).
Then we spotted the CNG limo, all decked out in electric city tape — it was right next to the Times-Shamrock horse and buggy and Rock 107s flatbed — complete with a live band. As we rode through the downtown, we waved to the thousands of people gathered on the streets, and shared Smarties and butterscotch candies with the good kids of The 570.
We were delighted to welcome a special guest to ride with us, New York City actor Nick Coleman. He’s in town for the filming of The Paragon Cortex, written by Blakely’s own John Kilker, and produced by Christian Huennebeck, of Scranton. Though we tried to pump him for the inside track on where the crew will be shooting this week, he remained true to his contract and was tight-lipped. We didn’t get any inside information, but we did have a chance to meet a delightful actor who had never been to the Scranton parade before. We hope we left as favorable an impression on him as the impression he left on us. We can’t wait to see him in action when the film is finished at the end of the summer.
Before we knew it, the limo was dropping us off in front of the Scranton Cultural Center. It was time to grab a bite to eat and continue making our rounds. Our next official stop was The Bog, where we spotted our favorite cover leprechaun, Larry Hopkins, cutting a rug to the sounds of Kock 107. Pat Finnerty, Brian Langan, Mike Quinn and Pat “Cougar” Gaughan had the crowd going crazy. (Oh, and speaking of short-shorts, Finnerty was sporting his classic Kock 107 look, cut-offs and the mullet wig. Sweeeeeet!).
The Coal Town Rounders took to the stage next, and the dance-a-thon continued. They put on a great show, and didn’t even miss a beat when a young lady was so overcome with parade excitement (OK, maybe it was all the alcohol) that she fell on stage and took out a plug to one of their guitars. Don’t worry, we had the luck of the Irish with us; nobody got hurt.
On that note, we did a jig over to the Radisson to catch the Tom Petty Appreciation Band. Once again, they didn’t disappoint. It was a great day for music lovers in The 570. While many searched for a shorter line to the men’s and ladies’ room, our main concern was this: out of the 15,000 people in town that day, how could it be that we ran into DJ Cadillac again? Was he stalking us because of the “pie-in-the-face incident?”
Scranton’s next Parade Day is Saturday, March 9, 2013. Be there!
— cb
Do you have social news
you’d like to share with City Butterfly?
Email citybutterfly@timesshamrock.com
Recent Comments