Former Director Reflects on Leaving KC Parade
Kansas City Star sensitive journalist Hearne Christopher Jnr had a thoughtful piece in Saturday’s paper.
Mary Nestel was for a long time an organiser of the main KC St. Patrick’s Day parade but for the last year or so has been involved with Martin City’s Irishpalooza - what last year was known as “the biggest little Fun St. Patrick’s Parade in KC”.
Mary is quoted as saying that she was voted out before her time was up, and in reply to Christopher asking why responds:
“No reason,” Nestel says. “There’s a lot of pettiness in Kansas City. There are still a lot of good people on that board and the committee, but basically too many personal agendas keep getting in the way.”
I’m not sure I understand all the bits that aren’t joined together in the article, but Nestel wishes the parade well and Jami Byer, senior co-chair of the KC St. Patrick’s Day Parade, says there are no hard feelings toward Nestel.
So that’s all fine then.
I would take issue with Christopher’s characterisation of the parade though:
After increasingly out-of-control parades — 2006’s garnered a “Violence returns with gunfire, beatings, arrests” headline in The Star — the city dialed back the frivolity, and things were calmer last year.
“Out of Control”? Tosh. Utter tosh. I was at that 2006 parade, the full length of it and spent most of my time where it was reportedly most troubled. There was nothing about the parade that could in any way be described accurately as “out of control”. And as for using the headline in the Star as evidence, the report by the police board that followed completely discredited the that coverage including the infamous star headline of “The Marring of the Green” or whatever sensationalist nonsense it threw up.
Eolaí gan Fhéile:
It’s also funny how Mr. Christopher failed to point out who was in charge of the “out of control” parade in 2006 - none other than Mary Nestel herself.
But I guess that wouldn’t have helped him hold her up as the heroine/victim of the piece.