It’s St. Patrick’s Day today, and judging by the all green everything, most folks are well-prepared for a pint of Guinness and the rest of the festivities that go along with celebrating the famed St. Patrick. The celebrations for St. Patrick’s Day vary by region, and Americans, for some reason seem to be at the forefront of the party-styled observation of the holiday.
I’m not going to bore you with a telling of the tale of St. Patrick and how he helped convert pagan Irish folks to Christianity or anything like that today. Wikipedia exists for that reason. However, in my browsing of Wikipedia I noticed some similarities between an Irish crest and a local business.
It’s probably my rudimentary knowledge of family crests and anything related to Irish history, but O’Brien Auto Park’s logo is an adaptation the O’Brien crest. That sentence sounds strange, because you’re probably thinking, “Of course it’s the O’Brien crest. It’s called O’Brien Auto Park.”
But seriously, the O’Brien coat of arms represents one of the most legendary Irish houses of all-time. They produced over 30 monarchs and battled Norse Vikings for control of their island. It’s a pretty fascinating story.
While there aren’t really any Norse vikings for O’Brien Auto Park to battle out in Urbana, there might be a bit of a parallel to the O’Brien lineage. They’ve “defended” their turf as central Illinois’ largest volume auto dealer for 25 years. Their “clan” employs 200 local folks who believe in the O’Brien motto, “We Stand By You.”
Truthfully, O’Brien is doing this community right. Their longevity and willingness to integrate themselves into the fabric of Central Illinois can be seen as a local equivalent of being one of the major houses of Medieval Ireland. Their clan is growing, and on this St. Patrick’s Day, you should think about pledging your automobile allegiance to their crest.