Best Ever @ Missouri S&T

The Bronze Age of St. Pat officially began at around 2:30 p.m. CDT Saturday, March 14, 2009. That's when the 2009 Court, along with Chancellor Carney and longtime court photographer Bob "Fitz" Fitzsimmons, posed before the newly bronzed statue of St. Pat outside Missouri S&T's Toomey Hall. The statue was unveiled about 10 minutes earlier during special ceremonies connected with the 101st Annual St. Pat's Celebration. See more photos from the event -- and lots of other stuff from this year's Best Ever -- at the official St. Pat's photo site. We'll be posting more as the week goes on.

We just got back from the unveiling of the bronzed statue of St. Patrick, the patron saint of engineers, and we're here to tell you that bronzed version of the Olde Hibernian looks good. St. Pat now stands on the north side of Toomey Hall, facing Curtis Laws Wilson Library, which was his home since the early '70s. We'll have photos of the unveiling ceremony to share early next week. In the meantime, please continue to enjoy this beautiful spring weather in Rolla and have yourself the best Best Ever ever.

If you're not in Rolla, we're sorry. But you can experience St. Pat's vicariously via the photos on our official St. Pat's Flickr photo site.

P.S. - In other news, Missouri S&T junior Emma Kessler was named the Queen of Love and Beauty during Friday night's Coronation.

Saturday night's St. Pat's concert -- featuring Puddle of Mudd and Shinedown -- is sold out. For those who didn't get tickets for Puddle of Mudd, here's the next best thing: wrestling in a pool of mud during Follies.

Check out more great Follies photos on the St. Pat's Flickr site. (Also, we need your help identifying the people in some of these photos. If you can ID any of them, send the names and the photo number to rupertb@mst.edu.

St. Pat and his court arrived in downtown Rolla yesterday to "officially" begin the 2009 celebration.

There are already PLENTY of St. Pat's photos on flickr . Please help us identify people in the individual photos. Send the photo number and student names to rupertb@mst.edu.

P.S. We are taking an imaginary survey, and the imaginary votes are flooding in...Apparently this celebration is already the best ever -- at least since last year's celebration.

P.P.S. The theme for this year's parade (Saturday) is "statues and monuments." 

A newly bronzed statue of St. Patrick will be unveiled during a ceremony at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 14, near Toomey Hall on the S&T campus. The public is invited to attend.

 

Originally commissioned in 1970, the pattern for the statue was made by Saint Louis sculptor Rudy Torrini. The original sculpture was dedicated in 1971, when it was placed in the lobby of the Wilson Library. It remained there for 37 years until the St. Pat's Board raised $60,000 to pay for it to be made into a bronze.

 

In August of 2008, the statue was shipped to Astoria, N.Y., where the Modern Art Foundry cast it in bronze using the lost wax process.

 

The statue will reside at the corner of Toomey Hall overlooking the library pending completion of the new St. Pat's Plaza, which is to be constructed on the south end of campus by the present Hockey Puck.

Follies started yesterday and will resume today on campus. The antics will move downtown on Wednesday, after St. Pat  and his court officially arrive (aboard the traditional manure spreader) in downtown Rolla at noon. More of Brad's photos (featuring lots of green paint and possibly whipped cream) after the jump.

We've been getting a lot of inquiries about the St. Pat's Concert. Well, it's sold out, people.

P.S. Our photographer got lots of shots of people doing weird things today at the St. Pat's Follies on campus. We'll post some of the photos tomorrow.

P.P.S. It sounds like the unveiling of the newly bronzed statue of St. Patrick is still ON for Saturday, after the parade. We heard something today about the statue being delivered (just in time).

 

The tradition continues...Colin Bodeman is St. Pat 2009. Here, Bodeman is pictured with Chancellor Carney, Dr. Lance Haynes and the 2009 court...Hopefully the weather will continue to cooperate.