Feb. 24, 2016 Staff Report
The 17th annual St. Pat’s For All parade will march with renowned Irish author Colum McCann and Irish-American philanthropist Loretta Brennan Glucksman as Grand Marshals, organizers have announced.
The event will begin on March 6 at 1 p.m., with the actual march kicking off at 2 p.m. The parade starts on the corner of 43rd Street/Skillman Avenue and finishes at the intersection of 58th Street and Roosevelt Avenue.
As is typical for the parade, there will be entertainment including bagpipe bands, puppets and stilt walkers.
McCann, a Dublin native, is a novelist and short story author who has received honors including the National Book Award and International IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize, among numerous others.
Glucksman has been involved in philanthropy for more than two decades, focusing on education, the arts, healthcare and peace initiatives in both the U.S. and Ireland.
Other attendees will include U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Council Members Jimmy Van Bramer and Daniel Dromm.
St. Pat’s for All, one of Sunnyside’s most popular events, began as a predominantly gay-pride parade, organized by a number of Irish men and women who were not allowed to march in the St. Patrick’s Day parade on Fifth Avenue under a gay banner.
Today, the parade draws participants from a wide variety of groups, from LGBT organizations to community and arts groups to athletic teams.
This year’s parade also ushers in what organizers are calling “a new era of Irish LGBT inclusion on 5th Ave,” following last year’s announcement that the Manhattan parade would invite an Irish LGBT group to participate for the first time.
That group is the Lavender and Green Alliance, founded by St. Pat’s for All co-chair Brendan Fay. The Manhattan parade takes place March 17.
“After 25 years [of exclusion] LGBT Irish will be where we belong on March 17, all together with our Irish community on Fifth Avenue,” Fay said in a statement. “I am proud of the role of St. Pat’s For All in bringing us to this historic threshold.”
Groups can still register to participate in the parade at stpatsforall.com.
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33 Comments
If the Ancient Order of Hiberians had not acted like they were “hot stuff” and shut out the Irish gays from the 5th Ave. parade in the first place, then this small parade would never have found a home in Sunnyside Queens and blossomed into a real homegrown event. What an unnecessary “hot mess” was created by the old guard in the AOH. Hopefully this year it will be a great day for ALL of the Irish in both parades.
I’m not sure why people are complaining about the parade. The insulting part is how sad the parade is. Every event in the neighborhood is always half assed. It’s so small town USA! Lets put on a play in the barn!!! What kills me are the people in charge of the events!! They really act like they are hot stuff. Big fish in a small pond !!
Thanks Brendan for creating this parade and hope everyone enjoys the day.
De Blasio should get a good booing, Hates Cops, Firefighters and Sanitation Workers, oh yeah, Carriage drivers also, Irish people in general looks like.
The demoncrat party hates working class people and supports only people who don’t really work yes #blamefoxnewsrachelmaddowhashairylegs
Please provide examples of this.
Does Rachels hairy legs give Chris the same thrill as obamas gives him.
I’m going to Flynn’s after.
Why not just give LGBT people their own parade? This would be open minded. I love all of you. Amen.
They have many of their own parades already, they just want to start shit.
Apparently, the Gay Pride parade is not enough. They have to commandeer them all.
All parades are gay. But i pray for them and metereologists. Amen.
Oh Boy here we go again! with the OLD FARTS get with it people you are dying off and no one cares about this stuff anymore. Meanwhile back at Faux News.
Ageist ! Blame foxnews repeat three times and rinse
-luvu2 comes to the defense of his lord and master.
It’s a chance to boo Bill DeBlasio and Danny Dromm, two of the disasters who are leading NYC off the cliff. Oh, yeah: and Little Jimmy also. Mayor DeBlasio wants to remind us that although slashings are up, there is nothing to see! And the real estate developers who support Jimmy can show up to cheer. Adrian agrees and approves this message.
Agree totally
– Rocky Yeah lets vote Republican They’ll turn the whole country into “Right to Work for less States” like they just did to Michigan and Indiana…Advancing their low wage agenda…Repeal the Affordable Care Act…..Throwing 17.6 million people back into the status of the uninsured…Outlawing Abortion and birth control adding 1.1 Million people annually to the ranks of the low and no income brackets…All this while they continue their tax cut agenda for the top earners….This sounds like a disaster for any country with a consumer driven market economy that uses a progressive system of taxation to run and defend the country….The 25 states which have passed Right to Work laws are: Alabama,Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas,Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, and WyomingThe worst crime in the nation according to FBI statistics are Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and South Carolina. A policy of low wages in a country with a progressive income tax system finance and fund it national defense is a recipe for disaster. You will notice the same low wage Republican strong holds have the worst health, lowest wages, worst in education according to Craines, WSJ, Forbes and US Census. “Red State” Policy keeps people poor The Pew Economic Mobility Project, a non-profit, non-partisan research organization, released a report on May 5,2014, on upward mobility. The 9 Worst States:Alabama, Florida, Kentucky,Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina,Oklahoma,South Carolina,Texas. US census data reveals the 10 poorest states : Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Montana, Kentucky, Alabama, North Carolina and Louisiana. They all have common denominator of being “Red States”. Also According to Forbes Magazine a Republican Contributor Maryland , Connecticut, New Jersey. New Hampshire, Alaska, Massachusetts, Virginia ,Hawaii, Delaware and California 10 Richest states by Median Household Income. Republican “Right to work for less” don’t seem to fair up here either. Do Republican policies appear to be working to you or are they? People come to NYC to thrive. they know people obviously do not and can not thrive under Republican policy.
Mac, YEAH, Thats exactly what we are gonna do, You can keep your Hope and Change.
Thank you, Johnny: that “hopey changey” thing really is work out well, isn’t it? Middle class worse off than ever. Mac needs to lighten up but drinking kool-aide isn’t helping him.
At least tens of millions more Americans have healthcare. What aacomplishments have Republicans made? Johnny you may want to brush up on your reading skills.its not what the Republicans are going to do it’s already been done in every place they gained control. Go back and reread Macs post and get it right this time. How’s that low wage right to work for less slave wage treating you? You and Rocky are 2 suckers and not too bright..
-Rocky You do realize your post actually supports what Mac is saying? The middle class is in bad shape and the states where the middle class is in the worst shape are almost exclusively Republican strong holds. I guess that does speak for Republican policy.
Mac, paragraphs are your friend.
Did Deblasio’s mom tell you to write this?
-Mac Don’t waste your time with facts truth or history with Republicans. They believe in myths and fairy tales and they vote for Republican candidates as long they feel blacks and other minorities will prevented from “getting something”. Even at the detriment of proven failed policies. Only a complete hateful fool would think it’s a bad thing to eliminate a national and international humiliation like tens of millions of working Americans without healthcare coverage then mock it as “changey”. These are excessively stupid people. Notice neither Rocky nor John came back with facts to dispute your facts because they are incapable. The propaganda these people are fed is not even sophisticated. Good work Fox News.
Mac is back, foaming at the mouth as usual. All right to work does is reveal just how little the American worker is worth. But, hey, you got through a whole post without Fox News. You and your therapist must be so proud.
Lets have fun …see you all at the Kettle after!
The Alcove.
Great new place!
Why not?
This parade has absolutely nothing to do with honoring a Catholic saint. Let’s stop pretending.
-kramden The same saints mentioned in the bible?
LGBT persons have been marching in the 5th Ave Parade for years. They march with their ancestral county or organization under the appropriate banners. WHY do they need a banner that expresses their sexuality.
The St Patrick’s Day Parade is about St Patrick and the Irish and Irish American people who helped to build this country.
…The Skillman Ave parade doesn’t pay respect to St Patrick or the Irish communities