St. Patrick's Parade

[TC Chris]

I'll post a link to my YouTube video of the St. Patrick's Parade in Bay City, MI. That's where I grew up. Among the various ethnicities in town, the Irish probably come in about 16th, but back in 1955 somebody said "Hey, let's have a parade!" And they did, and they have been doing it ever since.

For this group, the reason for giving the link is to view the '56 Buick Century coupe that is seen at 7:20. But apart from that you'll see improvised floats, bagpipes, high school and clown bands, the Potato Queen, Scouts, politicians, horses, city electric linesmen showing off, and if you look carefully, two State Police officers on bicycles. The city linesmen won the President's Trophy so they must have performed their pole-climbing antics safely all along the route. I guess if you're a linesman, safety is a big deal.

It's just a middle-American parade, a gentle form of entertainment that draws all ages, surprisingly. Kiddos, teens, parents, old folks like me. You'll see 'em all in the spectators around me. I was in it three times--once in the high school band, one in a nut-case political group I was in as a high school kid (it's why I say that "young and stupid" is redundant), and once in the Boy Scouts. My Chevy was in it once, carrying the homecoming queen. I attend every year.

The link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6UvwaEKiBA

Chris Campbell

[William]

That's cool, Chris. America at it's best, and it reminds me of the National Asparagus Parade that is held in Hart every year. Oceana county being the asparagus capital of the US.

Who was the marching band dressed in blue? That was one big band and they were good. The Buick was beautiful. What did the sign say that it was pulling in the little wagon.

Thanks for sharing.
Bill

[hermitcrab]

Last time I attended the parade I was horizontal ... too much green beer from the bars on Midland St. ....

[Firedome]

That's fun...love the linemen! Nice Buick too, '56 is a favorite year.
We have a huge St. Paddy's day parade here, there's a very large Irish contingency due to the many who came to work in the country's largest shoe factory. It's held a week early so that Bagpipe bands and NY police & fire groups can come from all over the NE even the Mummers from Philly, it's bigger than the July 4th day here. My son's favorite bar from his college days, the BelMar, is a classic Irish-American pub, our former mayor Matt Ryan hangs out, and a movie is going to be filmed there with Dustin Hoffman later this year. There's a bunch of Irish bars in Binghamton, all lots of fun, especially since FamilyTree DNA testing told me that I'm 62% Irish, 20 % English, and 18% Scandinavian...

[TC Chris]

Who was the marching band dressed in blue? That was one big band and they were good. The Buick was beautiful. What did the sign say that it was pulling in the little wagon.

Thanks for sharing.
Bill

The band that starts at 1:50? Bay City Central High School, my alma mater. They are playing our "fight song": "Central High, Central High, we are here to do or die; we'll fight fight fight with all our might, for dear old Central High." My high school buddy reminded me that the last time we marched (1965, 67 years ago) it was so cold the instruments froze up. He was a drum major and by the end his whistle was frozen. That was, of course, before global temps took off. On Sunday it was in the 50s. The pom-pon girls in their little skirts, the queens in sleeveless dresses, and the guys in kilts were grateful, I'm sure.
Chris Campbell

[TC Chris]

The Buick was beautiful. What did the sign say that it was pulling in the little wagon.

Denny's Collision, the owner. He has the car in the parade every year now.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

Thanks for sharing that, Chris. The Buick Century was a '55. I believe that car was in another parade you posted a video of one time. I'm almost sure I've seen it before. Beautiful car complete with Kelsey-hayes wires. Denny's Collision might be a good place to take your '38 to see if he has interest in doing the body work. The paint on that '55 is awesome.

[TC Chris]

Thanks for sharing that, Chris. The Buick Century was a '55. I believe that car was in another parade you posted a video of one time.

I probably posted a previous St. Pat's Parade with Denny's Buick. Maybe I'll give him a call. He might like a car to keep over n the corner and work on when things are slow. Most commercial body shops won't touch restorations. Collision work is too lucrative and completely predictable (estimate-able). I'll tell him that his '55 is famous across the country.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

A little-known fact is that I may have the best supply of '54 and '55 Buick radios on the planet. I must have a couple dozen of them. Long story how I came into their possession, but a long-time '55 Buick collector, known to me, was getting old and was selling off his cars and associated items. He asked if I had any interest in some "old Buick radios". Well, YEAH, I said. He brought me a pickup load of '53-'56 Buick radios, most of which were AZ radios with nice cases and in pretty good shape. It has been my considered opinion that this era of Buick radios were perhaps some of the best AM radios ever produced by anybody.

[Firedome]

Were Buicks radios of the period any different than Olds &c? Weren't they all Delco produced? Somewhere I think I still have the SAMS for most of the '50s radios in one of those specialized volumes they put out.

[TC Chris]

A little-known fact is that I may have the best supply of '54 and '55 Buick radios on the planet. I must have a couple dozen of them. Long story how I came into their possession, but a long-time '55 Buick collector, known to me, was getting old and was selling off his cars and associated items. He asked if I had any interest in some "old Buick radios". Well, YEAH, I said. He brought me a pickup load of '53-'56 Buick radios, most of which were AZ radios with nice cases and in pretty good shape. It has been my considered opinion that this era of Buick radios were perhaps some of the best AM radios ever produced by anybody.

I've got two or three. At least one of them is a "one box" radio from the first year Buick went 12 V, as I recall. Another is a two-chassis unit I pulled from the '57 Buick before it went to car heaven. That one we re-jiggered physically a bit, mounted it to a plywood board, and installed in my brother's CJ5 with a switch to allow him to run a portable cassette player in. I salvaged it a second time when he sold the Jeep. Both of them have P-P 12V6 outputs and tuned RF, but that was fairly common in those days. Both are permeability tuned. I also snagged a radio for my '38 Buick, which came without one, but that radio is still as-is.

Chris Campbell