Norwich parade kicks off St. Patrick's Day celebrations
Norwich — Last year, Clancy the Irish Wolfhound watched the Norwich St. Patrick’s Day parade from the sidelines.
Sunday, the 190-pound canine was front and center, strutting right down Broadway in the middle of the parade in a custom-made jacket.
A.J. Wojtcuk, Clancy’s owner, grew up in Norwich and brought the dog downtown for the parade for two years before the pair secured a spot.
Clancy walked proudly alongside local bagpipers, hula-hoopers, veterans’ organizations and fire trucks in the annual parade Sunday.
Parade-goers in green boas, hats, beads and T-shirts lined the city’s streets to get a glimpse of the parade as it went by, snapping photos and cheering on the floats.
Wojtcuk said he wanted an Irish Wolfhound as a 6-foot sixth grader, and has had owned two of the dogs as an adult.
“I was always a big kid, so I wanted a big dog,” he said.
Judith Gagne, of Lisbon, was ready for Sunday’s parade with green, shamrock-shaped sugar cookies that she handed out to anyone who asked.
Gagne and her daughter, Michelle Tate of Norwich, were at the parade for the first time to celebrate their Irish heritage.
“My great-grandparents came from Ireland, I know that,” Gagne said.
The pair had staked out a prime spot near the front of the parade, at the corner of Broadway and Union Street.
Outside Billy Wilson’s Ageing Still down the block, a crowd of green-clad beer drinkers assembled well before the parade’s 1 p.m. start time.
Even farther down, Dan Lapointe of Westerly was trying his luck selling fingereless gloves, stuffed animals and hats to passers-by, all in green.
Business was steady for about an hour before the parade began, he said. The most popular products?
"It's been a mix of things," he said as the Yantic Fire Department drove one of its engines carefully around the corner onto Main Street. "The hats, some of the animals."
Lapointe said he sells the knicknacks for a friend who owns a novelty shop.
"It helps to put a little extra on the table," he said.
The smells of corned beef, pizza and seafood food trucks melded on Main Street as the parade wound down and the last bagpipe notes trailed through the city.
New London will host its St. Patrick's Day parade March 13, and the Mystic Irish Parade is scheduled for March 20.
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