March 17 has come and gone and it's about time to finish up the green beer and Lucky Charms.

Embracing their Irish heritage like no other place in Wisconsin, residents of the town of New London throw a week-long party every year in celebration of the St. Patrick's Day holiday. To begin, the town unofficially changes its name from New London to New Dublin, a tradition enacted by the town's Shamrock Club leprechauns in a ceremonial annual prank.

Leading up to Wisconsin's largest St. Patrick's Day Parade and downtown Irish Fest, New Dublin residents "enjoy a week-long celebration that includes an exciting schedule of weeknight activities including Irish caroling, Irish entertainment on stage, and an Irish Céili. Corned beef and cabbage is widely served during the week in area restaurants and pubs with some places usually having entertainment."

Braving the elements, we ventured up to New Dublin for this past weekend's parade; an event that ran well over an hour and included bagpipes, marching bands, firetrucks, community organizations, military veterans, and bag fulls of candy and small trinkets for the kids.

Highlights included people on stilts:

giant tractors:

and the Whacky Wheeler: We couldn't resist testing our luck in finding a clover-themed geocache container on our way out of town:

No blarney, this is a fun event. For information on the 2015 festivities, visit: http://www.newdublin.com/