Ring o’ Gold: St. Pat’s Day proposal gets green light

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Lindsay DeLany (left) was proposed to by her now fiancé Jason Jacobs after the New Richmond St. Patrick’s Day parade. DeLany is a first grade teacher at Hillside Elementary. For additional photos from the parade, see page 11A. Also visit www.newrichmond-news.com for more photos and a video of the event.

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The Irish eyes around Lindsay DeLany and Jason Jacobs were smilin’ after the St. Patrick’s Day parade.

Jacobs proposed to DeLany, his girlfriend of two and a half years, outside McCabe’s Shamrock with a large crowd watching.

“I had no clue it was happening,” DeLany admitted the day after. “It was a total surprise. St. Patrick’s Day is my favorite holiday and for him to plan it at an event like that was amazing.”

Jacobs said he bought the ring in February. He originally intended to propose on a hot air balloon ride in April.

“Turns out I’m not good at keeping secrets and there was no way I was going to be able to wait that long,” he said. “We have always enjoyed St. Patrick’s Day and the parade in New Richmond, so it seemed like the perfect idea. All this was about two weeks in the making.”

Jacobs had several ideas of ways to pop the question at the parade, including making a float with a “Will you marry me Lindsay?” banner.

The final idea actually came from his mom Vivi Jacobs, he said. She works at Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College-New Richmond with Mark Kearns, this year’s co-grand marshal with wife Rita.

Vivi said the idea started as a passing thought that it would be neat for her son to propose at the parade since St. Patrick’s Day is DeLany’s favorite holiday. The idea snowballed from there with the help of the grand marshals, she said.

Prior to the parade Vivi gave the Kearnses the ring hidden in a pot of gold. When they disembarked from the carriage they rode through the parade, they made their way to the couple, pot o’ gold in hand.

Friends and relatives followed and gathered around. Mark gave DeLany the pot and told her a leprechaun said it was for her.

At first, DeLany seemed confused as to why she was the one to get the pot. After a little urging, she dug through it and found the ring box.

Jacobs took the box, dropped to his knee and popped the question.

She said “yes.”

As an added surprise to DeLany, her mom Debbie snuck into town from Sheboygan to watch Jacobs propose. She had known about the impending proposal for a few months, she said Wednesday.

“It went better than I could have ever dreamed,” Jacobs said.

“It was absolutely perfect and a day I will never forget and something we will celebrate year after year on St. Patrick’s Day,” DeLany said.

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