Well, you could take a walk with your sweetheart along the Grand Canal. You could saddle up and cycle along a stretch of Mayo’s Western greenway. You could even suspend your fears, terrors, knocking knees and palpitating heart and paraglide over Antrim’s coast.
You could do any of the above.
Or, you could be at the very centre of the Dublin St Patrick’s Day Parade.
2013 in Ireland is the year of The Gathering and the St Patrick’s Day folks aren’t going to let that pass without doing something special. The People’s Parade is their way of reaching out to YOU and putting YOU centre stage, under the spotlight. And possibly dying your hair green.
In a superhero-style team up, the Dublin St Patrick’s Festival and The Gathering are inviting 8,000 people from around the world to take part in the parade.
All you need to do is sign up.
If you haven’t yet experienced Dublin’s St Patrick’s Day parade, acting CEO of Dublin’s St Patrick’s Festival, Edelle Moss, sets the scene:
“Everywhere is awash with colour and carnival fever rolls into the busy capital. It's a day in Dublin when no matter where you come from, you can celebrate being Irish, even if it is just for one great day”
Surely, then, being an active and actual part of the parade is extra excitement with a cherry on top?
Pigs will fly
Recent St Patrick’s Day parades in Dublin have featured some curious characters: a rhino called Paddy; a bus dressed as a book; Saint Patrick with the spirit of Elvis. Pigs even flew.
When blogger Orla Grant found herself at the centre of 2012’s parade, she noticed one or two curious characters:
“The theme of the parade was ‘How? What? Why?’ to commemorate Dublin¹s designation as a 2012 City of Science. I was certainly left in awe when I saw all the giant rhinos, dragons, ferns and fish marching down Dublin¹s streets”
“A cherished experience”
She wasn’t the only one. Another journalist planted in the 2012 parade American journalist, Tom C. Walker. To say his experience was memorable would be an understatement:
“The mere mention of Dublin¹s St. Patrick¹s Parade brings a smile to my face. As an international travel journalist, I have travelled the globe extensively over the past 25 years--from the Arctic Circle, down to Morocco, throughout Southeast Asia, and much more. Of all my adventures, participating in the Dublin St. Patrick¹s Festival Parade remains a cherished experience.”
Sitting atop the media bus offered Tom a “distinctive view”. But it wasn’t the floats he was watching:
“I did not watch the floats stream by as I was ‘in’ the parade; my vista was of hundreds of thousands of spectators – 500,000 happy people smiling and waving, virtually all with unbridled expressions of glee. My memories of riding ‘in’ the St. Patrick’s Festival parade will remain treasured forever.”
If you have space from one more treasured memory, taking part in the biggest parade of Ireland’s year would fill it nicely.
If you're in Dublin this weekend, you can apply to participate in the People's Parade at Dublin City Hall on 15 & 16 of March. See times here.