 On Saturday, crowds lined the streets of downtown Brainerd as the town celebrated St. Patrick's Day. Floats, vehicles and moss mascots traveled past the crowds of people handing out candy on a beautiful sunny day. 31 groups took part in the parade, coming a long way from the events, humble beginnings back in the year 2000. I said, let's have a parade. He said, what do you mean? I said, just come here this day. So he shows up. I brought my lawn tractor down here and I had a little wagon behind it. I put a chair on it, secured it. We just drove around through town, just me and him. What are you doing, chef? What are you doing? I said, we're having a parade. And they go, what? There's only two people. I said, I know, but we're having a parade. And now it's gotten into the serious. We're pretty happy, pretty proud. I mean, I think there was a couple of thousand people on the route, so it was pretty sweet. In addition to the floats, several restaurants were serving holiday food such as corned beef and cabbage. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.