HEALDSBURG - It was still dark - the air so cold you could see your breath - when several hundred St. Paddy's Day revelers gathered early Thursday on Healdsburg Avenue amid a green glow emitted by all manner of lighted pendants, flashing hats and reflective attire.
These people were awake and ready to party when the bagpiper signaled the parade's beginning and led the throng out toward the town square.
Behind the piper came the royal entourage - a bedecked ATV pulling a trailer on which the queen herself in sparkling kelly green tulle greeted, well, about a dozen amused bystanders scattered along the six-block parade route as the sun was just coming up.
Dogs, kids, babies, grandmas, businessmen followed - some in costume, most clothed in green with whimsical accessories and, many of them, with their dogs.
"That's what's great about Healdsburg - little spontaneous little things," said Craig Johnson, a veteran of the parade which, though now in its 17th year, has spontaneity written all over it.
"It's awesome," said Candi Mazzoni, one of two fools who flanked this year's queen, Emily Farmer, whose been in the parade for all but it's first year.
The event is hosted by the B&B Saloon, which opened at 6 a.m. serving Irish whiskeys and whatever else folks were drinking in the packed house.
Johnson said he'd heard the parade started with three men in the bar, two of whom were playing a trick on the third by convincing him he'd missed the town's St. Patrick's Day parade.
Then when March 17 rolled around the next year, they were compelled to hold a parade - even if it meant just the three of them walking around the square.
Who knows if that's the truth, but several in the mob Thursday said they remembered when the parade was just a handful of people taking a stroll - including Mazzoni, who was one of six people her first year.
Kate Hendricks said she joined "back when there were 12 people."
"It was dogs and people, about 50-50," said friend George Palms.
It appeared Thursday the current participation was 200 to 300 people.
"It's growing. It's fabulous," said Julia Lander, whose marched for six or seven years. "And there's only about three or four spectators every year - and stunned hotel guests.
Four-year-old Arlo Herrod painted his face green before bed Wednesday night - "so he'd be ready this morning," said his mom, Briana Herrod, who was marching for her fifth time.
The crowd "kind of doubles every year," she said.
A few dozen men in the crowd sported green-dyed hair and, in some cases, green eye brows and even facial hair - all of them Rotarians raising funds to fight polio from friends, neighbors and business associates who sponsored them for the parade.
They raised about $10,000 last year, and hoped to top that this time around, said Gil Igleheart and Richard Norgrobe, co-chairmen of the campaign.
"The money is important, but what's more important is bringing attention to the fact that polio still exists in third-world countries," Norgrobe said.
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