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St. Pat’s for All march this Sunday
promotes Ireland, journalism & peace
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com / @robbpoz
Sunnyside and Woodside will be seeing green this
Sunday as thousands take part in the St. Pat’s for All
Parade.
One of the city’s earliest celebrations of St.
Patrick’s Day, the festivities take place beginning at
1 p.m. on Sunday, March 4, in Sunnyside at the corner
WWW.QNS.COM | MARCH 2018 | LEHAVRE COURIER 13
of Skillman Avenue and 43rd Street. Musicians,
community organizations, youth groups and proud
marchers of Irish descent will wind their way through
local streets before ending up in Woodside at the corner
of Woodside Avenue and 58th Street.
Now in its 19th renewal, the march was the first St.
Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City to welcome
members of the LGBT community to participate
together under a banner. Even as the St. Patrick’s Day
Parade in Manhattan now permits LGBT organizations
to march, the St. Pat’s for All Parade continues
its tradition, and has grown into one of the largest St.
Patrick’s Day celebrations in the entire city.
Just like last year, the 2018 St. Pat’s for All March
has two grand marshals: award-winning New York
Times journalist Dan Barry and producer/activist Dr.
Kathleen Sullivan.
During his tenure at The New York Times, Barry
has worked at all kinds of beats, from covering tragedies
such as the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and Hurricane
Katrina; to heading up (at various times) the City
Hall, police and Long Island bureaus.
Sullivan, meanwhile, has spent much of her career
devoted toward encouraging nuclear disarmament
around the world. She is director of Hibakusha
Stories, an arts-based program that tells the stories
of those who survived the Hiroshima and Nagasaki
atomic bombings at the end of World War II to generations
of schoolchildren. Sullivan is also credited for
helping the United Nations pass last July the Treaty
on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
If you’re interested in participating, visit stpatsforall.
org for more details.
Photo by Josef Pinlac
The St. Pat’s for All Parade in Woodside is on March 4.
Here’s your guide to the fi rst-ever Bayside St. Patrick’s Day Parade
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
Bring out the Irish in you at this
home-grown celebration in Bayside
next month.
The first Bayside Saint Patrick’s Day
Parade will take place on March 24,
beginning at 10 a.m. The family-friendly
event will run along Bell Boulevard
between 36th and 41st Avenues and
celebrate Irish heritage and culture.
Kieran Mahoney, a Bayside local and
one of the event organizers, told QNS
that close to 20 community groups will
participate in the parade. Irish pipe
bands and dance schools, as well as
groups from local institutions including
Holy Cross High School, Our Lady
of the Blessed Sacrament Catholic
Academy and Sacred Heart Catholic
Academy of Bayside, are among the
groups slated to march.
Due to a strong response from local
groups, organizers had to move up the
date to accept applications to march.
“We’re getting larger than we expected,”
Mahoney said. “I’m not completely
surprised at the response, but I am
surprised about just how many people
want to be involved and have reached
out to us.”
Mahoney first spoke to QNS in
October, when the parade was still in
the planning stages. Since then, the
event has been cemented and grown to
an “overwhelming level.”
“It definitely has grown much more
since our original conversation” the
organizer noted. “For the first year, it
really has been unbelievable.”
Over the last few months, Mahoney
and other members of the Bayside St.
Patrick’s Day Committee have organized
a series of events to either raise
funds or “keep the momentum going”
leading up to the event. In January,
around 250 attendees attended a dinner
dance at VIVO! Mediterranean Grill &
Catering celebrating the parade honorees.
A series of Irish music events
continue to take place at local bar and
eatery, Monahan & Fitzgerald.
A number of local businesses have
also signed on as event sponsors.
The grand marshal for the parade
is Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association
of the City of New York (NYCPBA)
President Pat Lynch. March aides are
Mary McCauley, Jeff Reinhart, Francis
McLoughlin, Fr. Robert Whelan and
Frank Talty. Plans are being made to
produce a program, which will list all
community participants and be distributed
the day of the event.
The public is invited to attend the free
community event. Those interested in
learning more or getting event updates
should visit the group’s Facebook page
or contact Mahoney at mahoneybayside
atgmail.com. A website is in the
works.
Photo via Flickr/jwpearce
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