ASHLAND — Ashland’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration featured Irish jigs, a green creek, kilts, leprechauns, green beer and shamrocks — all despite unlucky weather that brought rain, wind and cold.
“Today, I think we’re going to coin a new phrase: we’re Ashland strong,” a jovial Ashland Mayor Matt Miller said moments before dyeing Town Run green with four “leprechauns” that volunteered to pour the stuff into the creek.
The mayor led a countdown from 10, and then the “environmentally friendly” dye made from vegetables turned the creek a bright green hue.
Hayden Yoder, 7, said it was the first time seeing the green creek “in real life.” Still, it’s not his favorite part of St. Patrick’s Day. His favorite part is “getting to pinch dad.”
Some area schools were not in session on Friday, leading a mass of people downtown to witness a green Town Run. Yoder, donned in green attire, came with his dad, Irvin, and brother Peyton, 4. The family was one of many who chose to brave the elements on Friday. Temperatures dipped to 45 degrees, along with pelting rain droplets and breezes reaching 20 mph.
The festivities didn’t stop there. At 5 p.m., the mayor and his wife, State Rep. Melanie Miller, led a brigade of kilted men and women down Main Street. The crowds massed at Foundation Plaza, and cheered for its vote of Ashland’s Shiniest Shamrock.
It was almost no competition. A pair — Spencer Heimberger and Olivia Conley — stole the hearts of spectators, what with Conley’s rainbow tutu and Heimberger’s leprechaun suit.
To complete, or, jumpstart — for those of drinking age — the festivities, the mayor and his kilted chorus led the crowd in a chantey: “Weigh, hey and up she rises, weigh hey and up she rises, weigh hey and up she rises early in the morning.”
