Westhampton Beach St. Patrick's Day Parade: 'Everyone comes home for it'

The Spizuoco family, of Westhampton, comes down to Main Street for the Westhampton Beach St. Patrick’s Day parade every year, but it’s not just for the floats and pageantry.

“They get to see all their friends,” Tabitha Spizuoco said about her three boys, Owen, Alex and Henry. “The sense of the whole community coming together brings us down every year.”

That’s not all the kids come for, according to Robert Kilroy of East Moriches, who brought his son, Luke, 8, to Westhampton Beach for their sixth trip to the 46th annual parade.

“He likes the candy the best,” Kilroy said.

Christina Ferro, 24, of Westhampton, was at the parade with her friend, Meredith Egan, 23, who came down from Connecticut, and another friend, Dianna Dougherty, 23, of Rocky Point, who came to the parade for the first time because her brother was marching with the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

For Ferro, her hometown parade is just the beginning of an annual St. Patrick’s celebration routine.

“We go to the Westhampton parade and then next week we go up to Newport, Rhode Island,” Ferro said. “It’s our second time doing this and it’s become an annual thing.”

Tim Laube has been the president of the parade committee for seven years and credits the village with allowing them to put on the large parade that features about 100 units marching down Main Street.

“My favorite part is the community spirit,” Laube said. “People come out in droves. It’s like Thanksgiving in spring because everyone comes home for it.”