Irish Celebrations are in full force this week complete with carnival rides, food vendors, float decorations and much more leading up to the Grande Parade on Saturday March 15, 2014.
March 7, 2014 started the Irish Kick-Off Breakfast where the new 2014 Lord High Mayor and Emerald Award winners were announced. The Emerald Awards became part of Erin’s Celebration in 2001 and are named for O.S. Luton, who was one of the festival’s founders and the 1966 Lord High Mayor.
Members of the Houston County Area Chamber of Commerce, Houston County Recreation Club, the Erin Lions and Rotary Club select the winners of the award, which carries the motto:”Community before self”.
The winners are kept secret until the kick-off announcement.
Signature HealthCARE of Erin’s very own Barry Cotton was the 2014 recipient of the Emerald Award given by the Houston County Recreation Club. Cotton agreed that he was very surprised by the honor.”This is amazing,” he said.”There are lot of people in this community that could get this award.”I am proud to be a small part of that”.
March 7, 2014 also kicked off a brand new addition to the Irish Celebration pageants, the new Ms. Emerald Queen. The pageants were held that night at the Houston County High School auditorium and the contestants were solely residents from Signature HealthCARE of Erin. Ms. Bonnie Haneline a longtime member of Houston County now a resident of Signature HealthCARE of Erin became the very first Emerald Queen winner.
We are so proud of Barry and Ms. Bonnie for their accomplishments this year during the Irish Celebrations.