'Irish today': Butte's St. Patrick's Day parade draws crowds, campaigners

Throngs clad in shamrock green lined the route in Uptown Butte for the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Tuesday.

Some spectators readily admitted their veins feature little or no Irish blood. Heidi Paetzel and her daughter, Zoe Jensen, nabbed a traditional spot on Granite Street well before the parade’s start.

Irish?

“Nope, German,” Paetzel said, smiling. “Irish today.”

A short walk west on Granite encountered full-fledged Irish-American Patti Fritz, whose headgear was a St. Patrick’s Day personalized Mickey Mouse hat.

Fritz said she has been described as “a woman with an attitude.”

And she suggested one way to spell out Patti: “practically perfect, amazing, troublesome, terrific and incredible.”

This senior citizen said recent St. Patrick’s Day parades have included entreaties that tickled but did not compel.

“I’ve had college kids invite me to go drinking and dancing the last couple of years,” Fritz said.

The anticipated high temperature in Butte Tuesday was 54 degrees, but blustery winds sent balmy packing.

The crowd’s perennial favorites included the Pipes and Drums Band of the Edmonton Police Service and the Anaconda AOH Pipes and Drum Corp.

The mournful bagpipes stirred deep feelings. The drums provided a martial beat. The kilts stimulated impish speculation.

The Tiernan Irish Dancers captured crowds whenever the troupe stopped to perform.

St. Patrick rolled by on a flatbed truck, standing with a staff featuring a carved snake head.

Parade Marshal Jim Daily and his wife, Mitzi, rode by in a sleek convertible Chevy.

The corner of Montana and Park streets was awash in college students or those of a similar age.

The collegians did not include Emily Moore and Sam Zody, who were young enough to pass. They drove from Bozeman for the parade.

They shared a gallon milk jug containing a greenish beverage.

Moore said the contents included water, electrolytes, Gatorade “and a whole lot of vodka.”

The Helsinki Bar’s newly crowned St. Urho King and Queen, Bill Willis and Lorrie Tracy, cruised the route in the bed of a Ram pickup. They wore horned helmets and other regalia.

Along the route, Kelly green headgear ran the gamut: derbies, top hats, fedoras, a Medieval cap and hats that looked like they’d been run over.

Veteran parade observers suggested the crowds were respectable, given the workday context, but not as teeming as when March 17 falls on a weekend.

Butte’s version of March Madness also hosted a host of vote seekers.

Politicians joined the parade, including at least one Republican and one independent, both braving Butte’s long-standing reputation as a Democratic stronghold.

A few years ago, U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Montana, encountered a chorus of boos at the corner of Park and Main streets.

Republican Christi Jacobsen, Montana Secretary of State and self-described MAGA fighter, braved the parade gauntlet in her bid for the Western Congressional District seat. Her campaign launched after Zinke said he would not seek re-election.

Democrats Ryan Busse, Matt Rains, Sam Forstag and Russell Cleveland are campaigning for that same seat and turned out for Butte’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

As did Seth Bodnar, an independent candidate for U.S. Senate.

Many commercial parade entries, often draped in green, rolled along as advertisements — for a tow truck operator, a property management company, a telecom outfit and an overhead door company.

The entry fee for nonprofits was $40 and for commercial entries $80. Butte America Foundation runs the parade and the event’s proceeds help fund the foundation’s numerous activities, including KBMF-LP, a quirky low-power radio station, the restoration and maintenance of the Carpenter’s Union Hall, Butte Heart and more.

Meanwhile, Fritz joked that her family is said to be a bit of an anomaly in Irish circles.

“We must be dysfunctional Irish because we all get along,” she said.