Results tagged “stpatricksdayparade”

       

The streets were filled with revelers sporting green, shamrocks, kilts, or maybe even some combination of all three. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly struck a sentimental tone with NY1, "It really is a great day. The first parade I marched in was high school, then college. Then I remember policing many of these parades. The parade has gotten better, I think, in many ways."

This year is will be the 248th St. Patrick's Day Parade. While the parade honors Saint Patrick, the patron Saint of the Archdiocese of New York, it's become a popular celebration of anything remotely Irish, be it the heritage of a person or a beer.

Earlier this week, Hoboken's public safety official lamented what happened during this past Saturday's St. Patrick's Day parade (Hoboken hold their parade early)—an affair that included public urination from rooftops, a couple having sex in public view, and a lot of drunkenness—and suggested the parade wasn't worth the trouble. Other residents might agree, like this person who put up a notice in his/her apartment building, The Summit, to question the chaos a neighbor's house party had brought. NJ.com has a photo of the notice, via "Duffy's bartender Chris Halleron in his "Derelict of the Week" newsletter (he did not post the letter himself; he just sent out the photo of it on his newsletter)." Read the rest of the letter here.

Hoboken Public Safety Director Bill Bergin is so fed up with the city's St. Patrick's Day Parade that he wants to cancel next year's parade. He described the chaos on Saturday to Hoboken Now, "On Washingtion Street, bottles were thrown onto the people below. A girl and a guy were performing sex in a window when the parade was going by. One person spit in the face of a fireman. There were young, young girls that were blind drunk standing in the middle of the streets, so drunk that they didn't know where they were." And don't forget people were also urinating from rooftops—apparently most of disturbances were not bars but from "house parties." Hoboken mayor David Roberts and other officials will be discussing the parade and its future. Bergin said, "People talk about how much money the city makes from the parade. But if four or five people go falling off one of these roofs, there's no way to make up for this with fines."

If it's St. Patrick's Day, it's time for politicians to break out green accessories! At Governor Paterson's swearing-in, Senator Hillary Clinton wore a green shamrock scarf while Mayor Michael Bloomberg wore a green striped tie. It's unclear what kind of socks the Mayor was wearing, but he usually coordinates for March 17 by wearing green socks.

ESPN International’s Tommy Smyth is an International soccer analyst and New Yorker by way of County Louth, Ireland. Today, Smyth will serve as the 247th Grand Marshal of the St. Patrick's Day Parade and become the first Grand Marshal to march with his native contingency. Tommy has called Irish football games for years and years in Gaelic Park (Bronx), along with Irish dances for that matter. He calls himself "a New Yorker with an Irish accent" and he loves this town, soccer, and all things Irish.

Tomorrow is the 246th anniversary of the first St. Patrick's Day Parade held in New York (it's the oldest parade in the nation's history). The first parade was held in 1762 to honor St. Patrick and the Archdiocese of New York. Over the years it has become a celebration of almost anything Irish. The parade will march uptown on 5th Ave. in Manhattan from 44th St. to 86th St. and will last from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Parade goers then usually migrate to 2nd Ave., which can become quite crowded and rowdy.

Parades are generally times when politicians come out to march with and wave to constituents. (At last year's Gay Pride Parade, City Council Speaker Quinn and Senator Clinton marched, and Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Spitzer, and Senator Schumer were at the Puerto Rican Day Parade.) But Monday's St. Patrick's Day Parade may have few politicians, because Lieutenant Governor David Paterson is being sworn in that day, too.