Special Announcements for the
22nd Annual Lawrence St Patrick's Day Parade!
Press Release—February 12, 2009
There are several special announcements regarding this year’s upcoming activities.
The Lawrence St. Patrick’s Day Parade is in its 22nd year and to date fundraising efforts of the committee have provided more than $479,000 to local charities with the focus being on the young people of our community. The organizations we are funding this year are the Boys and Girls Club of New York Elementary School, Lawrence Parents as Teachers, GaDuGi Safe Center, and the LHS-Positive Support Team. These organizations reach out to so many of our community’s children and they deserve our support and appreciation.
Special events are happening over the next several days; we hope everyone will find a way to share in the fun and the spirit of giving that our activities represent.
A premier event, Saturday February 28th the committee will be hosting its Annual Charity Benefit Auction at Corpus Christi Church, located at 6001 Bob Billings Parkway in Lawrence. Items this year include the hard-to-find 2 tickets to the Brittney Spears Concert, Mario's Miracle Shot autographed photo, autographed KU Team Basketball, a WII System with WII Fit and remotes; the list of items is growing. Doors will open at 5:30PM for viewing auction items; silent bidding will begin at 6PM. The live auction will begin at 7PM. The Master of Ceremonies will be the unmistakable Voice of Lawrence, Mr. Hank Booth, assisted by notable radio personality Chris Merrill of Merrill in the Morning along with the 2008 St. Patrick's Day Queen, Colleen Callahan. Auctioneers will be Mark Elston and Jason Flory. Our thanks also to our auction coordinators, Debi Drummet, David Shannon, Kaci Love, and Ellen Kimmel.
Other upcoming events will be a Trivia Tournament at Zig and Mac's which, will take place 7PM on Sunday February 15th. Two T-shirt Pub Crawls will be Friday evenings February 20th and Friday March 6th. The 5K Shamrock Shuffle Fun Run/Walk will be the morning of Saturday March 7th on the river levee behind Johnny's; it will be followed that afternoon by the Dart Tournament and Chili Contest at Red Lyon Tavern Saturday March 7th. The Luck-of-the-Irish Motorcycle Rally begins at Noon on March 14th from the Slow Ride Roadhouse.
In addition to events, we are announcing some very special people that will take part in the St. Patrick's Day Parade on Tuesday March 17th. A good friend of Lawrence and a long time business owner, this year’s Grand Marshal, Mr. Bill Garrett. Also, two very special members of our community our Senior King and Queen, Marty and Joy Pattin, he is a former Royals pitcher and she is the daughter of John Weatherwax for whom this year's parade is in memorial honor. Miss Kansas, the Lawrence St. Patrick’s Day Queen’s Court, and a host of pageantry will make the parade spectacular. The parade will begin from South Park at 1:00PM and will proceed through Downtown, across the river, down Locust Street, and through North Lawrence, the same route the parade has followed for many years.
The committee wants as many people to participate in the parade as possible. Applications will be accepted until Tuesday, March 3rd but to assure a place in the lineup sign up early.
A list of auction items, details for all events, applications for the Parade, and the 5K Shamrock Shuffle, as well as other information is available online at:
http://lawrencestpatricksdayparade.com
Applications may also be obtained at Cottin’s Hardware on Massachusetts St., or at McDonald Chiropractic at 23rd and Haskell in Lawrence.
Additionally, 5K Shamrock Shuffle forms are available at most of the sport shops and athletic clubs around town.
Further information or reservations are available by calling 749-6677.
Thank you,
St. Patrick’s Day Parade of Lawrence
For information please call 749-6677,
email: info@lawrencestpatricksdayparade.com,
or visit our website at http://www.lawrencestpatricksdayparade.com.
