By Kenny Bissett
Saturday’s Leprechaun Crawl had downtown decorated green. Here are more than 70 images from the Crawl Reno event. Read more below about what else happened at the crawl.
Nearly 7,000 green clad partygoers hit the streets of downtown Reno last night for the fourth annual Leprechaun Crawl according to crawl organizers.
The Crawl officially started at The Waterfall and Silver Legacy Resort Casino at 8p.m. Not long after the crawl kicked off, the wail of a lone bagpiper in a traditional style kilt could be heard on the corners of West and Second streets.
“It’s a rather loud instrument,” said local bagpiper Tom Fougner. “I had somebody from however many floors up come down and heckle me for them … First off, we’re downtown and you kind of have to expect that [loud noises, etc.]”
Fougner has been playing the bagpipes for more than eight years and has been accosted for playing in public multiple times.
“Some places I go and people don’t have any problems,” Fougner said. “Some places I go and people just get pissed.”
Other than the one woman who asked Fougner to quit playing, the vast majority of passersby stopped to listen to the bagpipes, many commenting their approval and filming Fougner on their phones.
“As much as I don’t care for the drunk and disorderly, I think everyone needs an outlet one way or another,” Fougner said.
Later on in the night an unidentified driver did doughnuts at the intersection of Sierra and Second streets in a public spectacle that quickly turned serious when police arrived on the scene.
“We were sitting in [Thai Corner Café] having a beer and I saw the first burnout,” said 39-year-old Jose Rodriguez of Hanford, California. “I yelled out ‘Burnout’ and he went around twice and as soon as he went around, he turned the wrong way [on Sierra Street] … then that cop came out of nowhere and then a second cop came and a third one was right behind him, so they caught him.”
Multiple crawlers instigated the driver after he revved his engine multiple times at a red light. One crawler yelled out, “Is that all you got” before the driver proceeded to do doughnuts in the intersection.
It was pretty cool to watch, but that’s his problem now,” Rodriguez said. “It’s just exhibition. It was exciting, and there’s still more excitement to come. We’ll be out here all night.”
