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Snow fails to hid parade’s green

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

Parade veterans know well that the weather in mid-March is fickle. And so it was. But March 17 was better than the day before, so the glass was half full, albeit with slushy snow.
Mid-week parades tend to attract smaller crowds anyway, and the weather further certainly diminished the ranks of spectators along the 42-block line of march. But the throngs that made it during the 5-hour-plus New York St. Patrick’s Day Parade last Wednesday were nothing if not enthusiastic. They whooped and hollered, applauded and cheered and occasionally even called out requests for a tune.
One man in the upper reaches of the long march called out for “God Bless America.” And the Suffolk County police pipers and drummers duly obliged.
The patriotic tinge to the parade covers the Irish and American versions. “A Nation Once Again” and “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” are blended all day.
There is no more resonant a sight than the fighting 69th marching south down the avenue to its formation area just before the parade, rank after rank singing “She Wore A Yellow Ribbon” — even though the predominant colors of the day are green, red, white and blue.
Twice white if you counted the never-ending snowflakes.
The parade line of march runs to a tight script. One Irish county is given the honor of leading the counties each year. But this year it was all 32 of them at one time. The United Irish Counties, celebrating a hundred years, was given pride of place.
The sidelines of the parade conform to a far looser script. Her name was Antoinette and she was in a hurry. She seemed to have lost track of her companions. She stopped and looked back down the sidewalk. In her hands she clasped the one companion that had not given her the slip.
He was somewhat rotund and careworn. He might have been out on the town the night before. His name was Sam and some of the parade onlookers knew him. “Sam Maguire,” they roared.
A quick photo with Antoinette and Sam and both were off on their way up the street, now rejoined by their scurrying escort.
The Sam Maguire Trophy, currently in the custody of the Tyrone football team, had made it the parade. For those who had glimpsed the precious metal, the day’s outing had become a bowl that had unexpectedly flowed over.
The snow never took hold on the ground, but it provided a memorable contrast to the massed ranks of green-bonneted blue.
Central Park looked like a Christmas Card, and for one group of firefighters from San Diego, the weather was an opportunity for a rare treat: chucking snowballs at each other.
The temperature hovered in the 30s all day, so tweeds and woolens were just the garb.
Marching was no problem as far as the New York Corrections Department Emerald Society piper Jim Ward was concerned. Up at 86th Street, after his band had done their duty, Ward reckoned that he had marched and played on far colder days.
And there was always his favorite tune to warm his thoughts.
“The Green Hills of Tyrone,” he said.
Back down the avenue, on one of the streets where marching groups met and formed up, the members of the Monaghan Society might well have been dreaming of the county’s stony gray soil. But led by their president, Anne Marie McQuaid, they were dealing with an all-too-familiar patch of asphalt and the need to stamp cold feet on it.
The parade might never miss its starting moment, but delays can build up as the day wears on.
McQuaid’s husband, Jim, was a little warmer. He had already marched with the United Irish Counties and was ready for another go.
Des McGeough, gloved hand firmly grasping one pole of the Monaghan banner, was looking forward to the off. Marching for Monaghan was a far better proposition than just standing up for it.
Finding one’s county could be a bit of a puzzle for many. Frances Deegan from Wicklow, and now of the Rockaways, scanned the printed line of march in the hope of finding her friends from the Garden of Ireland. She eventually succeeded.
The parade, this year dedicated to the men and women of the U.S. armed forces, has long been a commemoration of past battles, the American Civil War, World Wars I and II, and Ireland’s War of Independence being but some.
And it has seen a few of its own in recent years.
The exclusion of gays groups marching under their own banner is not the visible hot potato it was a few years ago.
The Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization was not noticeable in this parade, though the group’s place on the sideline was taken by the kindred organization, Irish Queers. A small band of IQ protestors took up position opposite the Plaza Hotel and gave media interviews to reporters in search of a line that wasn’t based on green paint, or the white weather.
The 243rd parade ended as it started, in a flurry of snowflakes and promises to meet again next year.
It was a more demanding day out than some in the past, but Christ

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