2006 Mal's St. Paddy Parade

[spoody]

It looked as if t Mal's St. Paddy parade would be in the rain for the first time in it's 20 something year history. There have been close calls, but it always quit raining at parade time. Today, I must confess, I thought the streak would end. A cold rain fell right up until noon, and then magically, at 12 noon sharp, it stopped raining and sun peaked out from behind the clouds, and another great time was begun. And though the morning long rain kept the crowd down, as you can tell from the pictures, there ended up being a great turnout after all.

Here are some pics from the event I took with my new digital camera that I'm still trying to get used to. I made a ton of pictures, but these have the fewest goof ups.

about 15 minutes before the start of the parade, it was bleak looking north on State St.

I was getting worried

a few brave souls looking for cover

a shot of the "new" capitol dome (dang it, I cropped off the eagle on top)

but the weather let up and sweet potato queen wannabe's started to appear

a shot up N. West St.

part of the St. Andrew's Cathedral looking down S. West St.

oops!

more debauchery

folks having fun

enjoying downtown Jacktown

I just like street scenes, don't know why - looking north on Congress St.

last one, looking south on Congress St.

That's all folks - I have more and may post a few later.

Please comment on the pictures, I would like to read your input.

As I get more adept with this camera, I'll get out and take a bunch more around town. Will try to get on the Natchez Trace and take some too, it will be spectacular very, very soon.

[tombarnes]

Great shots! Looking forward to the rest of them! Very nice pics. of downtown Jackson!

[spoody]

more pics from Saturday....took too many of the same basic shots...should have gotten around to more streets and other areas of downtown...will do that in the not too distant future.

not a good pic of the bldgs., but I like the color in this one.....these ladies came from Illinois to particpate...even had ladies here from England

the recently refurbished and reopened Electric 308 building....some pretty swanky apartments on the upper floors (already booked)

another shot

and another

the Plaza building, renovation almost complete, swanky living quarters on upper floors (already booked)

Govenor's mansion (already booked )...second oldest governor's quarters in the nation...really, really nice on the inside. Of course it's for show and museum like quality. The governor's family actually lives in a private apartment on the rear of the building.

homey the clown?

the old capitol at the end of capitol street. Even though the new capitol is over 100 years old, they are still referred to as the old and new capitals. The old capitol housed a neat museum but had extensive damage from hurricane Katrina and is closed for a couple of year for major renovations...the museum artifacts are spread to different places about town until it reopens.

the old King Edward still hanging on down at the end of street. It is my belief the old building will live, that the renovation will go on as planned and start soon.

shot of the Amite street side of the Plaza building, ruined by that ugly mustang!

[tombarnes]

Excellent shots of downtown Jackson! Thanks for posting them! In spite of what many people believe, downtown Jackson is definitely on the way back to prosperity.

[tombarnes]

Did you get pictures of the parade this year? I'd love to see more.

[spoody]

Did you get pictures of the parade this year? I'd love to see more.

[tombarnes]

Cool! I look forward to your pictures! Can't wait to see the renovation and construction pics too...Thanks for the update. I'm glad to see that the parade has become, as you say, an event. Jackson has a lot of great things in store.

[spoody]

just a few from last saturday. most of the pictures I took are too similar to others from past parades to post, and besides, I mostly took videos.

Scaffolding is visible in this one on the corner of the Old Capitol building. They intend to cover the brick with stucco as it was originally done when built in the early 1800's. The stucco had deteriorated and was removed in an earlier renovation back in the late 50's or early 60's, but was not replaced for financial reasons. I thought I remembered it looking different when I was a child:

A look across the Governor's mansion grounds at folks gathering for the parade:

You can see the Walthall Hotel in this one. Wonder if the old facade is still under that 60-70's makeover?

[tombarnes]

I have heard conflicting reports about the old facade of the Walthall. People at the hotel itself have told me two different stories, so I suppose the best way to find out is to peel the metal covering away. I'd love to see the Walthall's facade restored. Thanks for the pictures and keep us up to date with developments in Jackson! Thanks again.