By Melanie Lekocevic
Capital Region Independent Media
GREENVILLE — St. Patrick’s Day may have been March 17, but the town of Greenville turned out in big numbers to honor the day during its annual parade on Saturday.
Marchers lined up at St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church and made their way down Route 81 towards the center of town, turning onto Route 32 and ending at the Greenville Public Library, as spectators lined the streets to cheer them on.
This was the 51st year of the parade. Event co-organizer Anne Lafferty has been involved with the parade for the past five decades.
“I attended every parade except the first,” Lafferty said. “I moved here to Greenville a few months after the first one, and I have been working on it since 1978 — and I ran it all by myself for 20 years. I have been involved all these years.”
The parade is hosted each year by the Greenville Irish American Club, with Lafferty and longtime co-organizer Betty Hayden doing yeoman’s work in keeping the parade going all these years.
The parade drew marchers from all quarters of the community — the Greene County Sheriff’s Office led the way, followed by local businesses, fire departments and other first responders, youth groups like Scouts, troupes of dancers from The Shamrock House and the Michael Farrell School of Irish Dance, and two marching bands — from Greenville and Cairo-Durham high schools.
This year’s grand marshal was John Clancy, a member of the Greenville Irish American Club who is also a musician and performs at many of the club’s events, Lafferty said.
And local residents turned out in big numbers to support them all, lining the streets and cheering their support. For Lafferty, that’s the best part of the annual event.
“It brings the whole community together,” she said. “That’s one thing I really enjoy about it. The community gets together for this event every year.”
Hayden said it was also gratifying to see so many children marching and watching from the sidelines, adding it’s a way to keep the old traditions alive.
“I love to do this every year — we want to keep the Irish traditions going,” Hayden said. “There were a lot of kids here today — we had a very good turnout.”
This was the area’s second St. Patrick’s Day parade — the first was held March 16 in East Durham, so Greenville’s event was held later in the month so everyone could turn out to enjoy them both.
After the parade, marchers and spectators were invited to visit the cafeteria at nearby Scott M. Ellis Elementary School for traditional Irish treats.
Here are more images form this year’s parade:
