St. Patrick's Day parade brings fun, plenty o'green for downtown Sharon restaurants
Mar. 17—SHARON — Grady Clark's favorite part of the St. Patrick's Day parade Saturday in Sharon was the candy.
His sister, Ella, said the best part was Rachel's Tumbling of Sharon, which also won the parade's most festive/fun entry.
"My favorite part of the parade was just watching the kids have fun," said Nicole Clark, of Brookfield, Grady and Ella's mother.
The Clarks were in a parade crowd of about 5,000, as estimated by Sherris Moreira, Sharon downtown development director.
Downtown restaurants were teeming with customers, Moreira said.
"Restaurants were impacted most of the day, with Elephant No. 8 Thai Taste, The Block by Nova Destinations, Julian's Bar & Grille, Allie's Sweet Tooth popup booming most of the day," Moreira said. "Quaker Steak and Lube did almost double the business from last year's parade day as well."
The city had Andie Lugg, from Strayhaven Animal Shelter, Greenville; April Shernisky, Tails of Hope; Jennifer Flynn, Animal Protection League, and Hermitage Commissioner Lou Squatrito, who is also on the Shenango Valley Animal Shelter board, judge the roughly 75 parade entries. Paradegoers were encouraged to bring donations of pet supplies for the animal charities — and to bring their pets to the parade.
The city also ran a parade pet promo contest Saturday on Facebook where they invited followers to post pictures of the pets to win four passes to Keystone Safari animal park near Grove City. Among more than 200 animal pictures posted, Lyla Werger, Greenville, won the contest.
"Overall, a really busy day for the city," Moreira said.
Follow Melissa Klaric on twitter @HeraldKlaric or email her at mklaric@sharonherald.com
