BRONX WEEKLY F www.BXTimes.com ebruary 3, 2019 10
Throggs Neck St. Patrick’s Parade set for March 10th
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BY PATRICK ROCCHIO
A festive community tradition is back.
The 21st Annual Throggs Neck St. Patrick’s
Day Parade is scheduled to step off at
noon on Sunday, March 10 on East Tremont
Avenue at Lafayette Avenue in celebration
of Irish-American heritage and of community
pride.
This year’s grand marshals are former
Congressman Joseph Crowley and Margaret
‘Peggy’ McKeegan.
McKeegan was a longtime aide to the
late-Senator Guy Velella through 2004
and she’s been a very active member of St.
Frances de Chantal parish for decades, according
to the parade committee.
The parade will also have a religious
honoree this year: Sr. Teresa Barton, the
principal of Villa Maria Academy.
The parade committee, stated, “It is excited
to bring an amazing celebration of
Irish pride and Bronx pride to the streets
of Throggs Neck on March 10.”
“Mr. Crowley, Mrs. McKeegan and Sr.
Teresa Barton are all beacons of light for
our community and we are delighted that
they will lead the 21st Annual Throggs
Neck St. Patrick’s Day Parade,” stated the
parade committee.
Crowley, who left U.S. Congress at the
start of this year, said he was moved and
touched by the honor and that the Irish experience
in America is one of “grit, toil and
trial.”
They are among the many ethnic and
racial groups that have contributed mightily
to the borough and to New York City, he
said.
“It is not just a great day for the Irish in
New York, it is a great day for Bronxites in
general,” said Crowley of parade day.
Crowley said that his Irish heritage is
very important to him and he can trace
his ancestry back to County Armagh and
County Laois.
He said that he believes part of his success
in the U.S. Congress was due to his respect
for other cultures and that this grew
out of respect for his own ancestors.
Crowley added he recently took a trip to
Ireland where he took part in a centennial
celebration of the Irish parliament.
He has attended the parade pretty much
every year of its existence, he said, both because
of his Irish roots and as a representative
of the community.
McKeegan has called Throggs Neck
home since 1966 and raised four children
in the community, three of which chose to
remain and call it home as well.
She said she attended some of the fi rst
planning committee meetings for the parade
after it was launched 21 years ago as
part of her work with the NYS Senate.
McKeegan said that she “was very
shocked” when she heard that she was chosen
as a grand marshal, adding that she believed
at fi rst they were calling about another
family member.
She expects that her extended family,
which she said includes ten grandchildren
and three great-grandchildren, will make
quite a showing in the parade.
“I think there will be a little crowd around
me in the parade,” she said, adding that her
family is talking about creating banners and
T-shirts for the festive occasion.
Joseph Crowley
Margaret “Peggy” McKeegan
Photo courtesy of Margaret McKeegan
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