ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARADE, MARCH 2016

SPOTS entered their first float this year in the O'Nancock St Patty's Day Parade last Sunday. it was quite an event for the rural Eastern Shore! There were 92 entries in the parade and we were #82. We sat in place for over an hour waiting for our turn to move. But, that gave me time to make a few last minutes changes and additions and gave the guys time to get the train up and running. It also meant that a good portion of the parade passed us by, so we had ringside seats for viewing about half of it.
We were a bit nervous, this being our First Event of this nature, and it was threatening to rain. Then it got a little windy (not a good thing for a float)...




We used a G (think Garden) scale train, battery operated, on a boat trailer. What you see is a lot of mulch on the trailer bed, the 'grass' is actually moss dug up from my back yard. One of our members built the house on the front of the layout, and another large building painted to be a Blarney Stone Pub. A friend of his built the covered bridge on the track next to Tom (in the red shirt).



 At the other end was what I call my Bird Town... they are all bird houses or bird feeders but they fit perfectly with the G scale train!



Of course the people, dogs, ponies and such were all added to bring things to life. The trees in the woods separating the better side of town from the other side are actual baby trees, junipers, cedars, and I forget what the other ones are. They are still in their pots and are now back home sitting under a camellia next to the car port. The deciduous trees minus their leaves are off a camellia or azalea out here in the yard. Imagine turning your landscaping scraps into trees on a layout!

It was a long hard day, but it finally paid off... WE WON BEST FLOAT!!!!!!

Now I need to figure out what to do with all the bald spots in my yard.