Turtle of the Day - A Little Bit of Irish

I grew up in the very small town of Alfred, NY - and probably the biggest community event in our town, not counting Hot Dog Day, was Saint Patrick's Day. Held from 1933 until 1986 (which I just learned... - I graduated from high school in 1985, so it ended right after I left) according to an Alfred history website, probably nothing has created more long-term interest and engendered more enthusiasm among students than did the annual St. Pat's Celebration.

It went through many phases over the years - and my siblings participated in a variety of ways as children with the St. Pat's Ball, as students when the town used to get painted "green" with green tinted pottery slip on public windows (St. Pat was here, etc..), to the annual parade which we marched in as Camp Fire Girls, Boy Scouts, or school band members.

This picture shows St. Pat and his "court" - with my Brother Bill and Lazy in Training Terri the two little cuties down in front. I am not sure of the whole story behind how they got chosen for this "honor" - maybe they will fill us in??

It was fading out as I grew older, but I remember that each year the ceramic school would make and sell some kind of commemorative piece - a shamrock shaped ashtray, a kidney shaped dish, or, as in 1980, a turtle shaped coin bank.

I guess this was more accurately the start of my turtle collection.


I found it yesterday as I was doing some deep Spring Cleaning - unfortunately it is as it normally was - empty.

I think the Munchkin can start filling it, though. And I will tell him all about how crazy people used to let us out of school on a usually snowy day in March to watch a parade!