March 17 in Tyrone began like a cold, breezy winter day. But by the time the festivities got underway, several hundred residents and visitors made quick work of the many venues available at the town’s St. Patrick’s Day Festival.

The St. Patrick’s Day parade started the day’s events, with temperatures in the low 30s and a steady breeze that dropped the wind chill into the 20s. But that did not stop the parade or the onlookers from having their fun, horns honking, parade participants waving and children scrambling for candy as the entourage of celebrants passed.

The morning’s events filled both sides of Senoia Road after the parade was complete. As colorful as anything was the dog costume contest, held at the gazebo in Triangle Park. Words can hardly describe the assortment of inventive costumes found adorning the cavorting canines and their families, not to mention the amazed crowd. Of all the unique entries in the unusual contest, one may hold a special place in the pantheon of memory, the “dog” that was perfectly disguised as a goat. In all, the crowd loved the event, as the did judges, the “Princesses of Tyrone,” still thawing from the parade.

Events at the now-famous dog costume contest site continued a short time later with the dedication of Triangle Park. And just down the street at Shamrock Park the festival continued, with the early morning chill giving way to midday warmth and flavor-laden wafts of homemade chili in the air.

The ballfield area of the park became the temporary home of the Highland Games, engineered by Girl Scout Troops 105 and 335. The venue came complete with offerings such as bale-throwing, tug-of-war matches, three-legged races, pole tossing and other tests of skill that matched the ingenuity of the girl scouts with the tenacity of participants. Those who survived the fun tried their luck later at mastering the challenge of the scavenger hunt provided by Boy Scout Troop 79.

No St. Pat’s Day celebration would be complete without a wee bit of Irish dancing. And in that area Tyrone could not miss. Whether in the parade, on an impromptu stage area next to the tennis court at Shamrock Park or just mixed in with the crowd, the indisputably colorful girls from Ryan Academy of Irish Dance made quick, actually amazing, work of traditional dance steps that most in attendance could only dream of accomplishing.

In all, several hundred people made their way to the St. Patrick’s Day Festival in Tyrone last Saturday. They had fun. That’s what festivals are all about.

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