By Brenda Erdahl
Jennifer Blair of Maple Lake is the winner of this year’s button design contest for the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day parade.
The button, with its computer-designed artwork is on sale at City Hall, BP Amoco, Maple Lake Cenex, Maple Lake Messenger, Maple Lake Wine and Spirits and Irish Blessings. They will also be available parade day, Saturday, March 13.
Blair and her family have faithfully attended the St. Patrick’s Day parade and festival every year since they moved to the area in 2014. Although Blair doesn’t consider herself an artist, she has played around with button designs the last few years, but never submitted anything. This year she incorporated the phrase “céad míle fáilte,” which means “a hundred thousand welcomes,” and it’s what ultimately led her to send the design in. The idea of gathering and being welcomed appealed to her after a year of quarantining and social isolation.
Perhaps it was that saying positioned at the very top of the button over a string of Irish flags and shamrocks that persuaded judges to select her design over the others submitted, but whatever it was, Blair is excited to have what she calls her “15 minutes of fame,” and her family is excited for her.
St. Patrick’s Day is even more special for Blair and her husband because they share a birthday on March 19. For that reason, the holiday has always been a time of celebration. Although the annual celebration will look different this year because of the pandemic, Blair is already planning on bringing the family out to the drive through parade, Saturday, March 13. The parade will take place along .6 miles of Fourth Street West (heading east) and Birch Ave South (heading north). Cars will start lining up on Second Street West just before Maple Ave and wind through .9 miles of neighborhoods to Fourth Street. Chamber members are inviting homeowners along the car staging route to decorate their homes in honor of St. Patrick’s Day to be entered in a contest for prizes.
Besides the fun of seeing her design on hundreds of buttons, Blair will enjoy $25 in business bucks.
Anyone who buys a button to support the festival is automatically registered to win a $100 prize in business bucks. The winner is typically announced in the Messenger and on the Maple Lake Chamber of Commerce website.