On Sunday, March 17, the town of Abington held a Saint Patrick’s Day Parade. Since its beginning 40 years ago, it has all been about tradition and the familiar faces that you see around town every day.

An especially familiar face in town is the founder of the Abington’s Saint Patrick’s Day parade, Mr. Jack Bailey, former owner of Bailey’s Garage. Mr. Bailey is the “Saint Patrick” in the parade and has been doing it since the beginning.

There were 14 bands marching, including four high schools: Abington High, Whitman-Hanson High, Silver Lake Regional, and Pembroke High.

The Abington High Softball Team led the way as the Grand Marshals to show off their 2018 Division 3 State Championship they won last year. Senior Jordyn Needle was a part of the winning Girls Softball Team. She said that her experience being in the parade with her team as Grand Marshal “was really fun and exciting. It was awesome to see everyone cheering for us, and I enjoyed getting the crowd fired up and seeing the smiles on the little kids faces when we threw them a T-shirt!”

Needle added that she also hopes that everyone comes to their games this spring. She is recovering from a major injury last season on her arm, but that won’t stop her or have her back down.

I, too, was lucky enough to be in the parade, riding on the Randolph Fire Truck with the Lieutenant Tim of the Randolph Fire Department, alongside many other fire trucks from a variety of towns such as Whitman, Rockland, Hanson, and of course Abington.

Being a part of the parade was very special. I enjoyed the parade a lot. Just being on a fire truck was a dream, getting to experience what was inside the truck because no one really gets to see behind the scenes of what firefighters do on a daily basis.

From high in the firetruck, I felt like I bonded with all the people of Abington. I waved to everyone. I felt like I was famous and on my way to a famous party in a limo. Seeing a ton of people, all the different faces alongside the street waving to me, was amazing. To have such a large turnout and such a great crowd was a good time to be in the parade.

The Saint Patrick’s Day Parade is for families and kids to celebrate what Saint Patrick did. But it is also a time to bond with others you don’t get to see very often. For me riding high in the firetruck, it was especially a day to celebrate Irish luckiness.