Ken Gardner (l-r), chairman of the Woodbridge American Irish Association’s 40th annual parade, congratulates Grand Marshal Ed Mullen, Irish Lady of the Year Claire Miloscia, Irishman of the Year Frank Darcy and Lady-in-Waiting Jessica Jacko. It’s that time again. Irish eyes — along with those of all who become honorary Irish for a day — will be smiling for the 40th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 10 in Woodbridge.
“It’s our responsibility to keep the tradition alive,” said Ken Gardner, chairman of the American Irish Association of Woodbridge, which organizes and runs the event.
Gardner, along with the association’s president, Ken Egan, and other volunteer members, is excited for this year’s parade, which is dedicated to emergency-service workers.
“Certainly with all the good work that was done by our emergency-service workers in Hurricane Sandy, we wanted to honor them,” Gardner said.
Kayla Meehan Ed Mullen, an active firefighter with the Iselin Volunteer Fire Co. who formerly served as fire chief, president, commissioner and mutual-aid coordinator, will represent the parade’s honorees as grand marshal.
“You can imagine my surprise when I got the call about it,” said Mullen, a 40-year volunteer firefighter who started out in Perth Amboy. “I was quite honored. I do know I’m representing all branches of emergency services, so this is quite an honor.”
Mullen said the honor is especially poignant because of the January 2012 death of fellow firefighter Bruce Turcotte, who had a heart attack while working with Woodbridge’s Hopelawn Volunteer Fire Department to put out a fire in the township.
“He was a good friend of mine,” said Mullen, a resident of the Menlo Park Terrace section.
It seems only natural that Mullen chose to pursue emergency-service work. His grandfather was chief of the Perth Amboy Fire Department in the 1950s, and his father was Perth Amboy’s chief of police.
Today, Mullen’s own son, Edward, is following in the family tradition. He is a career firefighter in Perth Amboy, as well as a volunteer firefighter with his dad in Iselin. “I’m very proud of my son,” he said.
Adding to the excitement for the upcoming holiday is that Ed Jr. and wife Ashley are expecting a baby sometime around St. Patrick’s Day.
According to Mullen, if one were to ask 100 different emergency-service workers why they pursued that kind of work, they would give 100 different answers, but none would be that they hoped to receive recognition for it. However, it certainly feels great to be acknowledged.
“It will be a proud moment for all of us here in Woodbridge Township, and for the emergency services in the surrounding communities,” he said, adding that he also takes great pride in his Irish heritage.
The same goes for Frank Darcy Jr., who will be honored as Irish Man of the Year. Also a member of the American Irish Association as corresponding secretary, Darcy comes from parents who emigrated from Ireland. Like his father, he is a member of many Irish organizations, an Irish nationalist and political union activist. He lives in Woodbridge with his wife Kathleen.
Claire Curran-Miloscia will be honored as Irish Lady of the Year. Immediate past president of the American Irish Association, Miloscia also is involved in an array of community activities and organizations. She lives in the Port Reading section with her husband Larry, and works as a Woodbridge Board of Education secretary.
Kayla Meehan, a graduate of Colonia High School, is this year’s Miss American Irish. A freshman at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, she remains active in her community, working to help others. Jessica Jacko, this year’s Lady in Waiting, is a senior at John F. Kennedy Memorial High School, where she is vice president of her class and president of the Chinese Honor Society, among many other extracurricular and community involvements. She has been guaranteed a seat in the University of Scranton’s doctoral physical therapy program.
The daughter of Maryalice and Ed Jacko, Jessica is following in the footsteps of her mother, a former Miss American Irish.
“Our honorees have done a great job representing the Irish in our community,” Gardner said.
The parade is funded through ad dollars from local businesses.
“We wanted to show our appreciation for that by getting our thousands of parade-goers into the local businesses,” he said. To that end, the association worked with Leon Schwartz, president of the Woodbridge Downtown Merchants Association, to team up for the “Go Green for March Partnership.” In this case, going green represents not only Irish pride, but also the economy and the environment, Gardner said. Township businesses will decorate in green to bring attention to the parade and the initiative as a whole.
Shopping locally fuels the local economy while also helping the environment through shoppers’ walking or bicycling to visit merchants, he said.
“That all ties in nicely with Mayor John McCormac’s initiative,” Gardner said.
With parade-participation applications still coming in daily, Gardner said he foresees more than 100 groups, including pipe bands, high school bands and a host of civic organizations, walking the green line down Main Street.
The parade’s events kick off March 10 at 9 a.m. with a flag-raising ceremony at Town Hall. The parade starts at 1:30 p.m. at Woodbridge High School and ends at Town Hall.
For more information on the parade or on the American Irish Association of Woodbridge, visit www.amerirish.com.