Papa Rocco leads throng to downtown G.S. bistros every March 17

Papa Rocco leads throng to downtown G.S. bistros every March 17
Annual St. Paddy’s Day tradition precedes 1979’s Hurricane Frederic

Although he has used “Stay calm and crawl along’’ as his catch line when christening the start of the Gulf Shores St. Patrick’s Day Walking Parade in the past, Big Bob Picard will go with “Let’s get ready to stumble’’ when he officially starts the parade from the Papa Rocco’s deck at around 9:30 a.m. for the start of this year’s annual song filled stroll to various downtown Gulf Shores watering holes.
The parade is financed by McGinnes, owner of Papa Rocco’s (one block north of the beach on Hwy. 59).
First stop is The Flying Harpoon. Mudbugs, The Steamer, Desoto’s, The Hangout, The Pink Pony, Gulf Island Grille, Hooters and Ribs ‘N Reds are among the other stops on the parade route. The crawl ends around 2 p.m. at Mikee’s.
The green tinted gathering has been growing steadily for the past 35 years, and exponentially over the past dozen, as a younger crew of Irish (aka Midwest college kids on spring break) has joined forces with the hearty 600 hundred Snowbirds that have been walking with McGinnes and original bagpiper Jocko McClean since the 1980’s.
As usual, Papa is bringing in bagpipers from Michigan to play during the crawl. They include Neil McGinnes (Papa’s nephew), James Stewart, Malcolm MacLean, Daryl “Cabbage” King and Michael Wood. Derek Crawford is the bagpipers’ official mascot. McGinnes, like the bagpipers and other regulars, will be wearing kilts.
“It used to be just Snowbirds. But now the younger generation has found us,’’ McGinnes said. “At this point we have a good mix of young and old. We even have grandkids of some of the originals coming out with us.’’
Butch and Lindy Harris are the original parade flag carriers, a job they proudly held even before McGinnes took over as grand marshall 28 years ago.
The parade’s history precedes 1979’s Hurricane Frederic. Vince Murphy, who at that time owned The Pink Pony, started the tradition and was first to carry the grand marshal baton.
Murphy passed the baton to local character John Kelliher, who led the swarm into Papa Rocco’s just after McGinnes opened his restaurant in 1984. Kelliher, The Colonel to his friends, deemed McGinnes worthy of the grand marshal’s position in 1989. McGinnes has proudly carried the lead stick ever since, even going so far as to apply for an official parade permit from Gulf Shores City Hall every year (ordinance 367. Section 5).
“We want to make sure the police know what we are doing. But we are not sure what we are doing besides having fun,’’ McGinnes said. “There’s not much to it. I just get out a little white-out and change the year on the permit application. It’s not like we do things differently from year to year.”
The Green Horde is easy to find, as The Hangout is the only stop on the tour that could handle the entire crowd inside its doors