The cool weather better fit the Christmas season, but instead of red, green dominated downtown Lawrence on Friday as thousands thronged Massachusetts Street for the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

“Things are a little calmer this year,” Bobbie Reid said as she stood with her husband, David, and the rest of her family watching the parade. “It’s a little colder, but it keeps the kids quiet.”

Despite the cold, the Reids enjoyed the parade, just as they have almost every year they could remember. They got an early start, claiming a parking space in the 1000 block of Massachusetts three hours before the 1 p.m. parade start.

“You’ve got to, or you’ll have to park six blocks away and walk in,” David said.

Nick Luna and Ashlei Reeder found that out the hard way.

“We haven’t been here very long,” Reeder said as the hourlong parade reached the halfway mark.

“We drove around a half hour trying to find some place to park,” Luna said, as he held the couple’s bundled up 6-month-old son, Nicholas Luna Jr.

This year’s 19th annual parade began at South Park, where about 100 entries gathered. They included floats, cars, bagpipe players, motorcycles, bands and even green fire trucks. The parade ended in North Lawrence.

Before the parade, members of the McDonough family from Lawrence and the Kansas City area readied their green 1953 fire truck in the parking lot behind the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. 11th St. But not all of the family members were true McDonoughs.

“I married a McDonough,” said Rob King, as he loaded a cooler onto the back of the fire truck.

A block away, employees with The Windsor, 3220 Peterson Road, an assisted living center, put the final touches on their float, which had a Wizard of Oz theme.