Perhaps the highlight of this morning’s St. Patrick’s Day breakfast was when Governor Deval Patrick crooned a casino-laden parody of Foxwoods’ “The Wonder of It All” in honor of Speaker of the House Sal DiMasi.
Nearly 800 attendees, both sitting at long tables and standing along the sides of the mammoth room at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, burst into teary laughter and applause.
I was one of those attendees at the 51st annual South Boston breakfast, which always lasts for about three hours before the parade.
Started in 1957 at Dorgan’s Bayside, the political roast was later moved to the Ironworker’s Hall, and in 2005 to the BCEC. That year’s breakfast was my first. I returned in 2006, but because I moved around so much, I never received a 2007 ticket and didn’t think about it. With stronger political motivations this year, I asked Senator Steve Baddour’s office if they could help me out.
The breakfast began under the command of then-state Senator John Powers. The senator who’s district includes South Boston traditionally hosts the breakfast. After Powers came Joe Moakley, then Billy Bulger, Steve Lynch, and now Jack Hart.
Following the specs on the ticket that the doors would open at 8 a.m., close at 9 a.m. and the event would start at 9:30 a.m., I set my alarm and drove into Southie, found a nice little parking space a hop, skip, and jump over the bridge from the BCEC, and strode through the doors just after 8:30.
But, so did everyone else.
I received an armband around 9, and made my way to the third floor. Everyone mulled about, waiting for their chance to get inside. Some were political wonks like me, had attended for many years and noted the many changes.
One guy, a City of Boston employee based out of a Jamaica Plain office, wondered if he’d ever get in. You see, the armbands had imprinted numbers and those numbers were called sequentially for access into the inner sanctum. Until those numbers were called, everyone waited, waited, and waited in the outer lobby.
I chatted with a woman who worked with the Asian American Civic Association, a nonprofit organization in Chinatown. This was her first breakfast, and she was moments away from walking out of the hall when her contact showed up and ushered her inside.
The music began at 9:30 but Senator Hart didn’t say anything until around 10 a.m. as I continued to wait for number 320 to be called. I finally got inside by 10:40 and stood on the right sidelines.
At that point, I stood for about an hour watching each political parody in turn. The big subjects of the morning were the Patrick-DiMasi casino bill, Mayor Menino’s fourth term and speculation about a fifth, and natural jabs at the presidential race.
The state’s constitutional officers were all invited, though I didn’t notice any of them other than the Governor, Lt. Governor Tim Murray, and Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral. A bunch of state reps and senators stood on the dais, along with some Boston city councilors and assorted other staff. Maybe I’ll be up there some day.
While the Dropkick Murphy’s played two songs, I found myself standing among a cadre of Marines from North Carolina. Tomorrow is officially St. Patrick’s Day but in Suffolk County it’s also Evacuation Day, honoring General George Washington who led his troops at Dorchester Heights and compelled the British Tories to evacuate Boston.
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Ari Herzog is an online media strategist and Newburyport City Councilor-Elect.
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