Spotted at this year's 27th Annual Mal's St. Paddy's Parade were Hooping Queens Vickie Vaughan, Del Peters, Sharon Henderson, Teressa Richey, Vicki Merrymon, Nan Strickland (all from Pell City, AL) and Diane Lee of Picayune, MS. The original queen group has been attending the SPQ parade for 9 years. Each of these fabulous queens paraded with hand-made pink and green travel hoops by aurahoops of Alabama.


The event was started 27 years ago by Malcolm White, co-owner of restaurant and music venue Hal & Mal's. Each year THE Sweet Potato Queen, Jill Conner Browne (author of The Sweet Potato Queen Book of Love) and her entourage march down the street in larger-than-life green and pink costume.


This year's event raised at least $25,000 for Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital. About $10,000 of that was raised at a poolside "JELLO Wrasslin'" event!


Next year's parade is planned for March 20. Stay current on SPQ events by visiting www.sweetpotatoqueens.com .