While the celebration of our Heritage during St. Patrick’s Day should always be a special event, this year it should be more so. This year the NYC St. Patrick’s Day parade falls on a Saturday, meaning that more people can attend and march. The County Board is providing a bus free of charge for all marchers but tickets are going fast so sign up now in the pub. For those with children this is a special way to share and celebrate our Heritage and make a family memory that will last a life time and pass on the tradition to the next generation. Our own Rockland County Parade will be held the next day in Pearl River. This is an especially proud day that we should all want to support as it commemorates the 50 anniversary of the Parade, the 50 Anniversary of the Division and the 30th Anniversary of Hibernian House. One of our own, Ray Sheridan, is the Grand Marshal, Pat Moroney’s son Mike is the Parade Commander, John McElligott is our Aide to Grand Marshal, and Bill Ford is our Battalion Commander. His Eminence Cardinal Dolan has indicated that he will march. We are the largest AOH division in the country and should have a presence in the parade to match to show our commitment to our heritage is alive and well. We as a Division do a lot of good work for our community “behind the scenes”, this is our one day where we make a public presence as a Division and Hibernians. For both parades, let’s try to dress appropriately as befits these special days. Lets try and look like a unit with dark slacks and shoes and not jeans and sneakers. Let’s reject the trivialization of our day by leaving the green “Cat in the Hat” headgear and Mardi Gras beads for the “once a year Irish”. We are in need of several people for both parades to carry our flags and banners. Anyone interested should contact Neil Cosgrove at ncosgrov@optonline.net
