St. Patrick's Day Saved (Final Draft)

By Bria Lott


Dallas’ annual St. Patrick's Day Parade took place this past Saturday on Greenville Avenue. However, the parade was almost cancelled this year due to a shortage of financial funding.

The cost of the parade has steadily increased in recent years because of the need for more police and street barricades. With the size of the crowd growing each year more money is required to produce the event.  

Looking for support, social networking sites were set up in order to collect donations from local citizens to help aid the parade fund.

Greenville Avenue Area Business Association (GAABA), CrowdTilt and FundRazr all participated in an effort to help raise the remaining money needed for the event.

CrowdTilt, a website that assists in the collection of money between groups, has helped the city of Dallas in the past. Last year $25,000 was raised via CrowdTilt to give the Deep Ellum community a garden.

Even with all the assistance, the city was still short $40,000. It was proposed last Friday that if the money is not raised the parade would not take place.

Photo by Bria Lott

However Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, stepped in and wrote a check for $40,000 to save the St. Patrick's Day tradition.


Residents expressed how grateful they were to Mr. Cuban.

"The parade is amazing and it would not have happened without him," said Dee Casarez.

“I don’t know what I would have done today if the parade had been cancelled,” said Sarah Bergren.

Josie Gomez(right)- Photo by Bria Lott

 Josie Gomez, a local resident, has been attending the parade for 20 consecutive years. She said it is a tradition that helps bind the community.

"Everyone gets together, you make friends and you share drinks," said Gomez.

Despite the rocky disposition, the parade went on without a hitch. There were even floats commemorating Mark Cuban's philanthropy.

Individuals were pleased with the outcome of the parade, and are already planning to return next year.

“I’m a St. Patrick’s Day parade virgin but after today I’m a regular,” said Casarez.












Sources

Sarah Bergren – sarahbergren@mac.com

Josie Gomez – josiegomezzzzz@hotmail.com

Dee Casarez – deemarie@myway.com

Dallasobserver.com

crowdtilt.com