March 5, 2012 By Christian Murray
There were more participants than ever at this year’s Sunnyside-Woodside “St Pat’s for All” parade on Sunday.
This was the 13th annual event and many of the traditional groups that have become a centrepiece at the parade were out in force. There was the Niall O’Leary School of Irish Dance, the Keltic Dream Dancers as well as bagpipe brigades. Well-known gay groups, such as Dignity USA and the LGBT, attended.
However, unlike the past, a number of groups that are part of the Occupy Wall Street movement attended.
“This year there was three times as many participants in the parade than ever before,” said Brendan Fay, the co-chairman of the event.
There were many colorful puppets on display, people on stilts and the canine group Sunnyside United Dog Society (SUDS). Additionally, there was a Bolivian Group, an anti-war group and as well as veteran’s groups.
The parade began at 47th Street and Skillman Ave at 2:00 pm. The day was overcast but it was not like last year when many participants were saturated by the time they got to the end of the parade at 58th and Woodside Ave.
However, before the event started, a litany of politicians had plenty to say.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said a couple of words about the “lucky of the Irish” and how the City of New York were supporters of the parade–then left almost immediately. Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer expressed his pride at being a gay Irish-American.
State Sen. Mike Gianaris, City Comptroller John Liu, Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio, Congressman Joseph Crowley, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer were among the many politicians who spoke.
Christine Quinn, the council speaker and gay Irish American, never appeared. There were four anti-Quinn protesters on hand who claimed she was complicit in Bloomberg’s decision to add an extra term.
The St. Pat’s for All parade was established more than a decade ago, when Fay, the co-chairman of the event, was not allowed to march on the Fifth Ave parade under a gay banner. In response, he established the Sunnyside-Woodside parade.
However, gay groups are now just a mere part of the parade; it has morphed into a community event.
Featured Events
56 Comments
Hey Monroe, if you want to keep “hating” on parades that the vast majority of the community enjoys, you’re going to continue to be pretty miserable living here in NYC. Luckily, this city is a place that millions of people from around the world flock to, (including this Irishman) and so you’ll be replaced in about a half second.
I believe I’ve said before, that there are other areas of the country where you’re views will be welcome. Like Kansas for instance. It’s all white, southern good ol’boys who don’t believe in science or evolution or equal rights. You will love it there.
Enjoy your flight, I can assure you that you won’t be missed.
It appears you can always count on MonroeDoctrine to arrive and make some dumb comment ten days after the argument is over.
“The Ladies?” You have one, JulieJ, while Irish had Nancy on his side. Seems like you’re the one underwater there champ, at least mentally.
But as long as we’re picking sides, I’m firmly in Nancy’s corner. Our girl is better than your girl. Stinks but I guess you’re used to being on the losing side aren’t you Monroe?
I think that the ladies get the best of Irishsunnysider and RF. Irish and RF are under water. I also hate this parade an am sick of the politially correct junk that goes with it.
Waiting for RF to chime in.
SunnysideIrish has his Irish up when people talk back to him!
“More people than ever” – yup, on two blocks!
Actually JulieJ based on all your posts you seem to be obsessed with IrishSunnysider so I think you may want to try a different argument than one based on stalking.
“Some of us” JulieJ? Didn’t know you spoke for anyone more than just yourself.
Face it, you lost. More people came out than ever before to join the parade, while you guys just sat here and whined. You guys seem to have an odd fascination with gay people. Stop throwing stones in your glass house.
Some of us think that Irishsunnysider is starting to sound like a stalker with an odd interest in women.
JulieJ you apparently were so helpless you needed defending by NRO, who hates women. Not to mention the fact that you are Raquel and apparently got tired of being told to shut up under your old name.
Look in the mirror. Funny that you nutcases even bring out lurkers to come tell you where to take your crap.
Irishsunnysider is rather thin skinned and needs defending by Nurse Nancy. The rest of us can tough it out.
Fair enough JulieJ, but nowhere did I suggest that priests accounted for the majority of child molesters. I said the governmental and hierarchical cover-ups and enablers were a bigger disgrace to St Patrick than any low key inclusive parade could ever even begin to approach being.
As for the diminshing religious nature of the day, that ship has sailed. Its an Irish day, not a catholic one. Fair enough if you don’t like it, but that doesn’t change it.
I think it is “Saint Patrick” not, “my pal Pat”. And don’t mix up apples with oranges. The majority of child molesters are not clergy.
I think the paedophile priests shielded and enabled by the Irish authorities and the vactican and catholic hierarchy are a much bigger disgrace to the legacy of St Patrick than an innocuous, inclusive little parade celebrating Irishness could ever hope to be!
Irishness does not equal catholicism anymore. Deal with it.
Looks like the only disgrace here is NRO, he gets what he deserves, Nancy just ran him over.
Good luck getting those tire tracks off your back NRO.
Nancy who elected you queen to speak for all women? Are you married to RF? The parade is a local disgrace.
Another topic taken totally off track. Speaking of feisty women though NRO just got DESTROYED. Way to tell him off. I love it.
I normally just lurk on this site but I just have to speak out on this. NRO you do NOT speak for us women. I’ve read your past posts and I can only conclude you have never been with a women and that’s why you are so angry at all of us. Raquel is not a representation of how most NYC women feel, sorry to sadden you.
Don’t claim to speak for any of us, your views are out of date and we can take care of ourselves, thank you very much.
Hopefully, this parade will die out. If they keep cutting the route it will be down to nothing. When is Chistine Quinn going to be excommunicated? She supports abortion on demand including late term abortion although she has zero chance of becoming pregnant. She would be a disaster as a mayor although we have a big disaster now in King Bloomberg. Get rid of all of them!
A total disgrace to the legacy of Saint Patrick
irishsunnysider – try attacking me! I will cover the backs of the ladies who speak the truth! The parade is a farce. It is a gay pride parade pretending to be a St. Patrics Day parade. it is over in 2 minutes. Nobody who is intelligent watches the parade. The brave people are the women who stand up to it.
Boy that Irishsunnysider hates feisty women. Bring it on!
Great video clip! I love the parade. Unfortunately this year I was out of town and missed all the festivities. It’s great to see the parade is increasing in size. Go SUDS!
“Community wise” equals Far Leftist.
Ticked off? Are you kidding? I’m having a great time calling you out on your B.S. Raquel. That’s a pretty pathetic disguise by the way.
Must be tough for Irishsunnysider to argue with women!
Irishsunnysider, I would say that Raquel has gotten the better of you since she seems to tick you off!
Absolutely, giving condoms to children is totally inappropriate. I would hope those people were challenged and barred from future participation. Didn’t see anything like that on Sunday.
JMM, glad you enjoyed the parade. Perhaps you might stop going in the future if your little lad was handed a condom as a friend’s FOUR YEAR OLD daughter was a few years back. Yes, there was a wonderful little group handing out condoms to adults and got a kick out of handing them out to kids, too, to see the parents’ reactions.
In all fairness, this was a rogue group and hopefully hasn’t been invited back since, but at that moment I considered the parade a “one and done” event.
FYI, the OWS people are not just about occupying wall street. The groups that were there are Astoria and Queens contingents of OWS. So that means there are neighbors who are trying to organize and hold the 1% accountable. This is a worldwide movement, not just a park near Wall St.
I actually did have some pretty nasty nuns growing up in my school, but then unlike Raquel I’ve learned to read and write, so I guess you take the good with the bad.
Also, JMM is right, there is nothing “Irish” about excluding anyone. Period.
@ velociraptor
If that’s the standard, then someone better explain Valentine’s Day!
Duh! 😛
They should also explain why the Irish government have been on a mission in recent years to turn Paddy’s Day into a major, international, secular celebration of Irishness, open and welcome to everyone. Or the international cottage industry in leprechauns, red beards and green Guinness! While its roots may be in catholic Ireland, its pretty much as secular as Xmas these days, not least in Ireland itself. I realize that pisses off certain sections who want both to be purely christian in nature, but society and culture evolve, for the better in this case IMO. I’m truly glad that my kids will be able to celebrate the Irish part of their heritage on Paddy’s Day, regardless of whatever sexual orientation or religious belief (if any) they will have.
What parade? Irishsunnysider just has to keep attacking anybody who dares to disagree with him. Must have had nasty nuns as teachers when he was a kid. The tragedy!
Meanwhile, how was the parade?
@WhiskeyTangoFoxtrotter Ask the Cardinal what he is doing about pedophile priests!
I had a great time at the parade, and was blown away by the talent of the Keltic Dreams dance team. (Is this off topic?)
I thought the parade was great, hell of a turnout, congrats to all the organizers.
And Bliss I frankly agree, it does get tiresome to read Raquel’s word soup and Raptor’s ramblings about how much more Catholic and therefore better they are than all of us even if we’re just trying to talk about a parade. Balboa and NRO complete our list of the finest thinkers of the 16th century.
Whatever, leave them to yell at kids to get off their lawn. After all on St. Pattys’ day all the Irish Catholics will be in the bars getting smashed in the true spirit of the holiday.
Were the Free Mumia people there? One grows tired of yelling at them. Sure the 108th really likes them.
Certain issues are important, Bliss & Skillman. I also don’t like this parade because of its far left ideological tone. I would go only to boo Bloomberg and the other phony politicians who think they know better than us.
I find it tiresome that no matter what the subject matter of the article is, some of you who faithfully comment always bring the conversation back around to the same issues. You must be quite boring to converse with in real life on a day-to-day basis.
When will John Liu be arrested for corruption? I hope Bloomberg was booed but good! There is nothing “Irish” about this parade. Once again, RF makes a bad comparison. By the way: I have heard that Bloomberg is actually embarrassed by the publicity that the religious groups being expelled from the schools has generated although we know he hates the Judeo-Christian ethic and what it represents (although he had no problem lecturing us about building a mosque at GZ and calling anybody who disagreed a “bigot”). The cry of “bigot” will not win any more, Bloomie!
@ JMM
“The day is first and foremost a celebration of Irish culture and ethnicity, not religion.”
Ok, then why is the day named for a saint? When you name a day and a parade after a major religious figure, don’t act surprised when people expect it to have some connection to do with religion.
Duh.
Nice try RF.
Churches are paying for the school facilities and their business is being refused simply on politically ideological grounds. Was the city forced to take their money all the time they were using the schools? No. The worship services are held behind closed doors and attended by congregants only, as opposed to a loud street parade that is in the face of everyone in the area. Does the city still let other public property be used for religious groups and events? Yes. The policy is incoherent.
The city renting out space to a religious groups does not mean the city endorses that particular group. When you have a parade, letting a particular group in is an endorsement.
We brought our little lad out to see his first Paddy’s Day parade and it was nice to see people of all backgrounds and beliefs watching and taking part. Didn’t see the OWS protesters (whatever the hell they were doing there??) where we were , but there were a few people who were protesting the inclusion of gays and lesbians (I’m sure they were not pleased to see the couple of humanists either!). They kept it low key, but are signs like “Debased” really necessary? The day is first and foremost a celebration of Irish culture and ethnicity, not religion.
Believe it or not, I agree with Velociraptor and encourage him to apply this viewpoint to his earlier arguments on the public schools.
After all, if you want to have a school or place that allows prayer or public worship services of your specific religion, better to make your own (Tax free!) than to force yourself on public schools attended and funded by people who want nothing to do with it.
For too many on the Right, tolerance is a one way street.
OWS “Occu-poopers” as we call them at our house. Anyone else remember the miscreant who was photographed defecating on an NYPD cruiser? A disgusting group of malcontents who seem determined to force taxpayers to pay back their college loans.
Am standing with Timothy Cardinal Dolan in his fight to restore our First Amendment rights under the Constitution. He’ll be reviewing the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade from the steps of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral on Saint Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2012 A.D.
ERIN GO BRAGH
Frank, he was booed. But mildly so. He left almost as soon as he go there. In years past, he cavorted with the Celtic dancers.
To the author of the article, there were never any OWS people there before because OWS didn’t start until this past Sept.
I disagree that there were more participants than ever but what do I know? It was great fun.
frank – I don’t recall Bloomberg being there
There were some Christine Quinn protesters though
I missed my chance to boo Bloomberg!! Did anyone boo him?
I enjoyed the parade. It was probably one of the largest spectator turn-outs ever and there were a healthy number of marchers as well. What’s the criteria for marching? Showing up? Only a few groups had Irish roots while the rest of the parade was like a walking commercial for causes.
I had a great time at the parade. It was wonderful to see all the participants really enjoying their time! I hope it only grows and gets more inclusive!
Congratulations to STPATSFORALL- phenomenal effort.
Where in the city will you find a more fun family-friendly diverse multi-cultural celebration?
Not sure the new location for start of parade is the best-only a small part of the crowd got to see the dancers but the music was excellent and spirited!
Believe it or not, I think this parade is a good idea. If you want to have a parade that showcases gay and lesbian groups, better to organize your own -like this one, than try to force yourself on a parade run by people whose religious beliefs oppose the homosexual lifestyle. For too many on the Left, tolerance is a one way street.
My favorites were the large crowd of teenage Red Cross volunteers, and the band that had a good-sized group of South Asian kids, including one Sikh boy. The Girl Scouts were also adorable.
My grandparents came from Limerick in 1902, and their attitude was that this was a new country, a new world, a new century, and they were going to open their minds and hearts to the place that had taken them in.
Sounds awful. How many spectators were there?
How ironic the the so-called occupy groups came to march. Isn’t Ireland a country that’s been desperately trying to rid itself of an occupation?
From the scruffy looks of them, they might want to consider occupying a bath tub at some point.
Anyway, the turn out looked impressive.