Echo Base go Bragh!

You would think marching in one St. Patrick’s Day parade per year would be enough for most people? However, when Echo Base sent out a “distress call” for extra manpower for their debut in the Pittsburgh St. Patrick’s Day Parade… Great Lakes Base and Freedom Base came to the rescue!

photo courtesy Ammi Ziva

We met up with the rest of Echo Base and Carida Garrison at the loft/business where one of the troopers works; time to mix introductions with getting dressed for the parade.  Once everyone was time to make our way over a few blocks to our appointed staging area… and WAIT; and by wait I mean: stand around (in near freezing wind) with nothing to do until the parade starts.  Thankfully, everyone else around is in the same predicament and you pass the time talking, laughing and getting to know your fellow Rebels, 501^st and Mando Mercs.  Again, not all that different from what growing up on travel hockey teams was like.  Ammi Ziva was interviewed by one of the local radio stations about the Rebel Legion, 501^st and Mando Mercs.  The kids from the high school marching band – behind us in parade lineup – kept themselves amused by “adopting” one of our two Darth Vaders into their whirling dance circles of shared body heat.  Finally, someone broke out the hand-warmers and started to pass them around to everyone.  Thanks to the folks from Salvation Army, who had a truck nearby with hot chocolate and cookies available to help keep marchers WARM!

Eventually, the parade started moving and Rebel Legion lead the march along the 2.6 miles of the parade route through downtown Pittsburgh’s narrow streets – which compared to Detroit feels like running the Death Star trench, with thousands of people (dressed in green) on either side of you… cheering, waving and wanting you to stop for pictures!  At one point, we passed a parking garage with people tailgating on every level cheering as we went by.  Then, just when you’d think the parade was over, we’d round a turn and there is another street filled with cheering people.  Plus, I have to give credit to Princess Leia, who ran from one side of the street to the other – passing out candy to kids wherever she spotted them.

The following day, it was announced that Echo Base had won an award from the parade organizers!

Then… the REAL adventure begins!  Echo Base had arranged for a rental bus to pickup the group at the end of the parade route; but there wasn’t enough room to fit everyone and traffic/weather made waiting for a return trip out of the question – this thing was a bus, NOT a Republic Gunship! Therefore, several of us paired up with some locals who knew the streets back to our staging area and we walked back – at a pace that could give the “BrianKenobi death march” a run for it’s money.

Overall, the Pittsburgh St. Patrick’s Parade was a huge success, and you can expect to see Great Lakes Base and Echo Base trooping more events together in the future!