Parading of the green draws rainbow of an audience

Despite the city's financial woes, there was anything but a shortage of green yesterday at the 239th annual St. Patrick's Day Parade on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Founded in 1771, the parade is the second-oldest in the country, coming in right behind New York City's St. Patty's Day hurrah. The long-standing tradition is a celebration of everything from Irish heritage to the military and police services.

Above all, the event honors the life and legacy of St. Patrick, including the integral role he served in Ireland as a missionary.

The parade turnout proved that you don't have to be 100 percent Irish to show pride - which makes sense since St. Patrick himself wasn't born in Ireland.

Binita Bhattacharha, 31, and her husband, Mainaka Adhikary, 34, of Glenside, snapped pictures with their festive green camera and enjoyed the Irish dance-school performances, a crowd favorite.

The two said that they show their appreciation of other cultures and join in the celebrations in Philly as often as possible.

"Every year, we see a lot of non-Indians come to our events and we love it," Adhikary said. "We figured, why not do the same? That's what America's about, isn't it?"

Angela Friday, 57, was handing out carnations to passersby as a volunteer for International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Dedicated to the Hare Krishna movement of promoting the well-being of society, Friday sees a similar purpose in celebrating St. Patrick.

"Whether people know it or not, they're representing St. Patrick when they're parading like this," Friday said. "It's meaningful because [he] was a great humanitarian."

One of the enthusiastic characters attending the parade was Selma Harris Forstater, 76, of Philadelphia. Decked out in a green feathered boa, Forstater reminisced about the parade from her childhood and the history of her Irish-Jewish family.

"The Irish were always very good to the Jewish," said Forstater, who identified herself as one of the few Irish-Jewish women she knows. "I actually have a leprechaun costume that I wear on the Jewish holiday Purim."

Forstater spoke of the mutual respect that the Irish and Jewish held for each other in Ireland, her father's homeland.

She explained that in Ireland, the Jewish people wouldn't hang their laundry out to dry on Sundays, and the Irish would do the same on Saturdays, in observance of the others' religious Sabbath.

Forstater, along with her husband and four kids, visited a kosher butcher in Belfast in the 1980s with hopes of finding out where her family used to live. The trip was successful but risky. "Those were the days when the trouble was there," said Forstater, remembering the bombings in the area.

The parade didn't escape the massive budget cuts this year. However, a series of fundraisers and more than 3,000 pledges and contributions, including donations from unions and organizations, made it possible.

Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC, which owns the Daily News, Inquirer and Philly.com, last month pledged up to $20,000 in matching donations to cover the cost of the parade to the cash-strapped city.

"We've had more money sent to us in the mail than ever, ever before," said Patricia Donnelly, executive committee member of the St. Patrick's Day Observance Association.

"People were volunteering and taking money out of their own pockets," said Paul J. Phillips, Jr., 85, treasurer of the association since 1962. "The Irish are very resilient." *