St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Manhattan attracts thousands
Fifth Avenue was a sea of green Saturday as throngs of people gathered in Manhattan for the world’s largest St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
Marchers began traveling up the avenue from St. Patrick’s Cathedral about 11 a.m. for one of the nation’s oldest parades.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo led the parade, which includes no vehicles or floats. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio marched along with Police Commissioner James O’Neill and the NYPD Emerald Society.
The parade followed Saturday Mass led by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who was joined by Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and his partner Matt Barrett.
Dolan called St. Patrick’s “a monument to the Irish people.”
He said the “Fighting 69th” National Guard unit that led the parade, which was originally organized as a militia unit for Irish immigrants, served as a reminder the of patriotism and generosity of the Irish people.
Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) was in Washington this week with President Donald Trump to welcome the prime minister.
“This is a great Irish tradition that represents all the people of New York and Long Island,” King said. “It means so much to have the Irish prime minister here and it shows we are a city and a region and an island of great people.”
Former NYPD Police Commisioner William Bratton also joined in the festivities.
“There’s no place quite like New York on St. Patrick’s Day,” Bratton said.
Revelers lined Fifth Avenue, some waving Irish flags, others adorned in green with shamrock antennas. Some men viewing the parade had dyed their hair green and beards orange.
Maggie Kelly, 16, of Breezy Point, and her family said they come to the parade every year. This year, they were supporting her cousin, who was a bagpiper marching in the parade.
The Kelly family waved handmade signs thanking the NYPD as officers passed by 60th Street, while some members of the crowd shouted jeers at de Blasio.
“We love the Irish,” Kelly said. “We wanted to give our thanks and support to the police, firefighters and troops overseas.”
Marchers from Long Island included the Wantagh Pipe Band, followed by Malverne Mayor Patricia Ann Norris-McDonald, who walked with the Friends of Steven McDonald.
The fallen police officer — Norris-McDonald’s husband — was shot three times in 1986 by 15-year-old Shavod Jones as the officer and his partner questioned the teen. Just months after the shooting, McDonald forgave Jones. For decades after the shooting, the third-generation NYPD officer and his wife were fixtures at metropolitan-area events. McDonald died in January 2017.
Norris-McDonald said Saturday that every year the parade had signified another year of recovery.
“As a family, it meant so much,” Norris-McDonald said. “He was able to march in a chair from the time he was released from the hospital to the time he passed.”
An estimated 100,000 marchers and 2 million spectators attend each year’s parade, which dates to 1762.
Maggie McGwin, 25, of Brooklyn, said she came to the parade for the first time since moving to New York last year from Wisconsin.
“I have a lot of roots in Irish culture. It just makes you feel like you’re part of something bigger,” she said.
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
