DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Shamrock's St. Patrick's Day Celebration, out there in Wheeler County, Texas. Now, every good story starts somewhere humble, and this one starts underground.
Early area settler George Nickel and his wife, Dora — she was a Haggard before she was a Nickel — raised their family in a dugout home in Wheeler County. That's right. In the earth.
And yet from that dugout would eventually come one of the biggest parties in the state of Texas. Sit with that a moment. In 1890, a post office was approved for the Nickel home, and George needed a name for it.
He reached into his Irish heritage, and he reached for something that meant luck and courage both, and he put forward the name Shamrock. The post office approved it. When the town of Shamrock was platted along the Rock Island Railroad — built through the county in 1902 — the name stayed right where George put it.
Now, fast forward a few decades. A man named Glenn A. Truax — Shamrock's own bandmaster — looked at that Irish name hanging over this little Texas Panhandle town and had himself a vision.
What if Shamrock leaned into it? What if this town called itself the Irish city and threw open its doors on the feast day of the patron saint of Ireland himself? With the Shamrock Boosters Club at his side, Truax made it happen.
The first St. Patrick's Day festival rolled out in 1938. And they did not think small.
That first celebration was free — all of it. A parade. A street dance.
Matinees running at both the Liberty and the Texas theaters. And then there was the massed band concert: five hundred pieces, drawn from twelve cities. Historical and dramatic presentations on top of all that.
The town had fewer than four thousand souls living in it, and about twelve thousand people showed up anyway. The Panhandle wind probably didn't know what to make of it. The following year, 1939, attendance topped thirty thousand.
Spectators packed the streets and climbed up onto the roofs of downtown buildings just to get a view of the parade. From a dugout home to thirty thousand people on the rooftops — George Nickel named something bigger than he knew. The celebration kept on every year until it was suspended during World War II, and again during the Korean War.
When it came back, the Chamber of Commerce took over sponsorship in 1952 and has kept the thing going ever since. Over the years, Shamrock's celebration has welcomed state and national figures in politics, sports, music, and entertainment. It's grown from a single day to a multiple-day affair, holding onto the original activities while adding new ones that have become traditions in their own right and a real part of the local economy.
And in 2013, the Texas Legislature made it official. House Concurrent Resolution 83 proclaimed Shamrock's celebration the official St. Patrick's Day celebration for the entire state of Texas.
George Nickel suggested a name for a post office in a dugout. The legislature of the whole state eventually took notice. Not bad for a little patch of Wheeler County ground.
What the marker says
Early area settler George Nickel and his wife, Dora (Haggard), raised their family in a dugout home in Wheeler County. For his Irish heritage and for its symbolism of luck and courage, George suggested “Shamrock” for a post office approved for their home in 1890. The name was retained when the town of Shamrock was platted along the Rock Island Railroad built through the county in 1902. Shamrock bandmaster Glenn A. Truax envisioned the town capitalizing on its Irish name by producing a one-day celebration to draw thousands of visitors to the “Irish city.” With the help of the Shamrock Boosters Club, the first St. Patrick’s Day festival was celebrated in 1938, linking the local celebration with the feast day of the patron saint of Ireland. The first observance featured such free attractions as a parade, street dance, matinees at the Liberty and Texas theaters, a massed band concert of five hundred pieces from twelve cities, and historical and dramatic presentations, attracting about 12,000 people to a town of less than 4,000. The following year attendance topped 30,000, with parade spectators positioned along streets and the roofs of downtown buildings. The annual event continued until it was suspended during World War II and again during the Korean War. The Chamber of Commerce took over sponsorship in 1952. Shamrock’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration has welcomed many state and national figures in politics, sports, music and entertainment. It has evolved to a multiple-day affair, retaining many original activities and adding several others that have become annual tradition and an important part of the economy. In 2013, the Texas Legislature adopted House Concurrent Resolution 83, proclaiming Shamrock’s celebration the official St. Patrick’s Day celebration for the state of Texas. (2016)