21st annual TN St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 10
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, M BTR ARCH 1-7, 2019 15
2019 Throggs Neck St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Grand Marshal Joe Crowley..
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2019 Throggs Neck St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Grand Marshal Margaret ‘Peggy’ McKeegan.
BY PATRICK ROCCHIO
A tradition celebrating community
and Irish pride returns on Sunday,
March 10.
The 21st annual Throggs St. Patrick’s
Day Parade steps off at noon
on March 10 and marches along
East Tremont Avenue from a starting
point at Lafayette Avenue to a reviewing
stand at Harding Avenue.
Spectators are expected to line
East Tremont Avenue as a sea of
green marchers and spectators blanket
the street.
This year’s grand marshals are
former Congressman Joseph Crowley
and Margaret ‘Peggy’ McKeegan,
a very active parishioner at St. Frances
de Chantal and a former NYS Senate
chief of staff.
The honored religious for the parade
is Sr. Teresa Barton, Villa Maria
Academy principal for 21 years
and a member of Congregation of
Notre Dame sisters.
Crowley, who left the U.S. Congress
at the start of 2019, said he was
moved by the honor, adding that the
Irish have contributed greatly to the
borough and city.
“It is not just a great day for the
Irish in New York, it is a great day for
Bronxites in general,” he said.
McKeegan said her family will be
marching in the parade, and are creating
a banner in her honor.
Her children, ten grandchildren
and three great-grandchildren plan
to attend, she said.
“I am hoping for good weather of
course and a lighthearted peaceful
day when everyone will join with one
another and celebrate the community
of Throggs Neck,” said McKeegan.
McKeegan said that her godchild
and nephew, Kevin Delaney, is being
posthumously remembered as one of
the parade’s honorary grand marshals,
an honor the parade committee
bestows on the recently deceased.
“He was a good person who was
full of fun,” she said. “We will get together
and celebrate his life.”
The grand marshal said she especially
likes the music and bagpipers.
Barton said that she has attended
the parade during her years in the
neighborhood, and that she herself is
of Irish heritage.
“I feel that the parade celebrates
the Irish culture and it brings together
all the people who live in
Throggs Neck and around the area
for a fun day,” said Barton, adding
“For the religious aspect, I feel it is
also a tribute to the values and religious
beliefs of Saint Patrick, the religious
patron saint of Ireland.”
The spectators lining the route are
a great aspect of the parade, said Barton,
citing their enthusiasm in waving
and supporting the marchers.
Families of recently deceased
community members who are being
remembered as honorary grand
marshals will be marching in the parade.
The 2019 parade’s honorary grand
marshals are Barbara Archambault,
Lee Baumann, Eugene Callan,
William Corbett, Kevin Curran,
Delaney, John Donovan, Miriam
Donovan, John Geideman, Carolyn
Gross-Kreidemaker, William Johnson,
Matthew Kuhl, Terence ‘Terry’
Lorino, Michael Lynch, Diane ‘Dee’
McSwigin, Elizabeth ‘Lily’ Mullane,
Michael Nash, Thomas O’Donnell,
John O’Gara, Barbara Powers, John
Powers, Arthur Reilly, Joseph Riordan,
Elizabeth Roche, Lyn Scheuring,
David Sheehan, Margaret Sullivan
and Michael Sullivan.
There will be a Mass for marchers
at St. Benedicts Church and a prebreakfast
for marchers sponsored by
Schuyler Hill Funeral Home, according
to the parade committee.
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