ROCHELLE –– Paint the town green and celebrate St. Patrick’s downtown Rochelle this weekend. The second annual Lucky’s St. Paddy’s Day Parade and Irish Hooley will be held Saturday, March 11.

The celebration will begin with the Tyson Foods Lucky Hub Dash at 10 a.m. The Lucky Hub Dash is Rochelle Chamber of Commerce’s annual 5K and will be held at the Holiday Inn Express, 1240 N. Dement Road. The family friendly event is fun for all ages and awards will be presented for most festive apparel. Following the race, green Gatorade will be available for kids and green beer for adults 21 and older.

Cost to participate in the Irish dash is $35 for an individual. A four-leaf clover price of $22.50 an individual is available for groups of four or more. Registration can be found at www.rochellechamber.org or by calling 815-562-4189.

Lucky’s Hooley

The festival will begin with a parade downtown Rochelle at 2 p.m. Over 20 participants are signed up to participate in the parade. Prizes will be awarded for the best decorated bike or wagon for ages up to 12, most spirited outfit for ages 13 and over, and the largest clan. Prizes will be awarded at 3 p.m. during the Hooley.

The parade will begin at Lincoln Highway and Sixth Avenue and proceeds South to Cherry Ave, the parade will continue down Cherry Avenue to Main Street and going north on Main Street to Fifth Avenue.

Prior to the start of the parade, Rochelle Masonic Lodge will host a hot dog fundraiser for the dogs. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. hot dogs, $2, and Headon’s brats, $5, will be available at the Lodge. Proceeds will benefit the Rochelle Police K-9 unit.

The Hooley kicks of at 2:30 p.m. with Irish music by We Three and at 3 p.m. Irish Dancers will perform downtown Rochelle.

The community is welcome to sign up for the potato races, which will be held at the Hooley, where participants decorate and race their potatoes down a ramp fashioned for the event. Sign-up is on the day of the event and races begin at 3:30 p.m. facilitated by cub Scouts Pack 553.

Rochelle Performing Arts will take the stage at 4 p.m. and the festival will end at 5 p.m.

Through out the event seven vendors will be serving food and baked goods including Ralfie’s BBQ, Sullivan’s Foods and Rochelle Fire Department serving pork chops. Women of the Moose will serve a St. Paddy’s Day lunch from noon to 5 p.m. at the Moose Hall, 311 Main St.

Following the festival, the VFW will serve a corn beef and cabbage dinner at 5 p.m.

A craft and vendor show will be held at Living Waters Church from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Over 30 vendors will be set up inside the church selling handmade items and home sales. Kevin Berg will offer caricature drawings. The caricature drawings are sponsored by the O’Brien Clan in memory of George O’Brien.

Leprechaun Land will be set up for the wee ones. Imagination Station will be set up by the Flagg-Rochelle Park District and the Rochelle Fire Department will operate the Wee Firehouse. Face painting, giant Jenga and more will be available for children in Leprechaun Land.

The evening will conclude with Rochelle’s first ever bar crawl. The bar crawl will begin at Salt 251 at 8 p.m. It will wind to Abe’s, The Rack and conclude at Flight Deck at midnight.

More information on Lucky’s Hooley can be found on Facebook “Lucky’s St. Paddy’s Day” or by emailing luckyirishsp17@gmail.com.