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Rescheduled St. Pat’s parade keeps traditions alive

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By Melanie Lekocevic

Capital Region Independent Media

Irish pride was on full display Saturday for the rescheduled St. Patrick’s Day parade through Greenville. Melanie Lekocevic/Capital Region Independent Media

GREENVILLE — It was St. Patrick’s Day in April this weekend.

Originally scheduled for mid-March on the weekend after St. Patrick’s Day, a cold, icy rain and snow forced the postponement of the parade.

But with the event celebrating its 50th year, organizers refused to cancel and instead opted to reschedule for a month later.

“We mean to keep this parade going,” event co-organizer Betty Hayden said. “No matter what, we are going to have our Irish-American St. Patrick’s Day parade.”

The parade, organized each year by the Greenville Irish-American Club, drew marchers from across the community, all decked out in green and Irish regalia, including U.S. and Ireland flags flying side by side.

Two marching bands performed in the parade, from Greenville and Cairo-Durham High Schools, and marchers included Girl and Boy Scout troops, law enforcement, local businesses, and even a couple of donkeys.

The Greenville Central High School marching band performed for the crowd. Melanie Lekocevic/Capital Region Independent Media

The parade stepped off from the parking lot of St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church, made its way down Route 32, turned left on Route 81 and concluded on the steps of the Greenville Public Library.

There, a brief ceremony was held — including the Irish and American national anthems — before everyone headed to Scott M. Ellis Elementary School for Irish-themed snacks and a musical performance.

The Greenville St. Patrick’s Day parade got its start 50 years ago when a handful of people organized it, and the event morphed into the current-day Greenville Irish-American Club. Only one of those original parade founders is still around today, Hayden said.

“I can’t believe that I am the only surviving member of the [original] Greenville Irish-American Club,” founder Anne Lafferty told the crowd. “My husband, me and our kids moved to Greenville Aug. 3, 1974, and two days later we went to St. John’s Church and that’s how we got involved. Moving here was the best thing we’ve done.”

Anne Lafferty, left, the lone remaining founder of the Greenville St. Patrick’s Day parade, addresses the crowd. Melanie Lekocevic/Capital Region Independent Media

The club lost another longtime member the day before the parade, Michael Farrell, founder of the Farrell School of Irish Dance. Hayden called for a moment of silence in his memory.

The parade’s grand marshal this year was Neil Wallace, also a longtime member of the Greenville Irish-American Club, as well as the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Knights of Columbus. Wallace said he was honored to have been chosen.

“It is a great privilege and an honor to be selected as the grand marshal,” Wallace said.

Here are more images from Saturday’s festivities:

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