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HAMILTON: Township fetes St. Patrick’s Day

The Original St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Scholarship Committee hosted its 29th annual St. Patrick’s parade on March 8 – the parade is traditionally held the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day.

by Amy Batista, Special Writer
HAMILTON — Township streets were a sea of green filled to the brim with the Irish and those who wished they were for the annual St. Patrick’s parade last Saturday.
   ”It’s an honor to have the parade in Hamilton Township,” said Mayor Kelly Yaede. “It’s a great working relationship with our police, our Public Works Department.”
   The Original St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Scholarship Committee hosted its 29th annual St. Patrick’s parade on March 8 – the parade is traditionally held the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day.
   ”You’ve got a great group of people,” said Vince McKelvey, the grand marshal of the parade in reference to the parade committee.
   In November of 1985, a small group of people banded together to organize the parade. Trenton had not had a parade in honor of the patron saint of Ireland for more than 100 years. Desmond Murphy, who was born in Dublin, and the former owner of the 149 Club on Washington Street, originated the idea, according to the parade’s website.
   The “voice” of the parade, Vince McKelvey, for the last 28 years starred in a different role this year as grand marshal.
   ”This is a strange role for me,” Mr. McKelvey acknowledged, though he said he has been offered the role a few times before.
   ”I think it’s a great honor,” he said. “I still haven’t really been able to wrap my head around being a grand marshal.”
   ”It had been offered a couple of times and I just said later, later, later,” he added”
   For Mr. McKelvey, the highlight of the parade is being the master of ceremonies for the parade.
   ”My real fun was always MC-ing the parade,” he said, adding that he will do more later in the day when he reaches the reviewing stand.
   The theme of the parade of this year was “A salute to one of our own.”
   ”That’s because of my 28 years with the parade,” he said, adding that he has also served as the parade chairman and trustee for 10 years. He is also the president of the Monsignor Crean Division 1 of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
   Mr. McKelvey reflected on the reason why the Irish march.
   ”We are happy and proud of where we came from,” he said. “I am extremely privileged to be part of the long green line which is the long green line of grand marshals across America and tradition.”
   He said he is hoping that the younger generations will step forward and keep the tradition going.
   ”Remember, without tradition, this thing dies and we need people to come on board with us and keep this tradition alive,” he said. “This is a great thing that goes on in the community for the community by the community.”
   Today is not about him, it’s is about the Irish, he added.
   Caitlin Murphy, of Hamilton, was selected as this year’s Miss St. Patrick. Her parents are Desmond and Denise Murphy. Her father was one of the founders of the parade.
   ”It’s truly an honor,” said Ms. Murphy, adding her father served as the grand marshal for the 2006 parade.
   ”I am very happy that we have beautiful weather and ready to get started and see everybody out there,” she said.
   Opening Ceremonies were held at the Nottingham Firehouse at 12:30 p.m. and started with Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo welcoming everyone and thanked the Public Works Department for fixing and making sure the roads were clear for the parade.
   ”Putting on a parade takes a lot of hard work and time,” said Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo as he asked for everyone to give the St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee a big round of applause.
   The Irish National Anthem was performed followed by the National Anthem.
   ”It’s wonderful to be here and Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all,” said State Sen. Linda Greenstein of the 14th District.
   Sen. Greenstein and Assemblyman Dan Benson presented a resolution to both Ms. Murphy and Mr. McKelvey during the ceremony.
   Council President David Kenny and Council Vice President Dennis Pone were also in attendance at the ceremony to present Mr. McKelvey with a resolution that the council adopted honoring him for “all of this hard work.”
   ”It’s wonderful to be part of this great organization,” Sen. Greenstein said, adding she is a social member of the A.O.H.
   ”This is a wonderful event every year and makes me proud to be Irish,” said Assemblyman Benson.
   Approximately 96 organizations participated in the parade, which was led by Hamilton Police Department, according to organizers.
   ”We managed to get more funding,” Mr. McKelvey said. “We got more sponsors and businesses putting more money in because of the charges we now get from Hamilton Township.”
   The cost of the parade for the day was estimated to be around $30,000. There are additional administrative charges that will cost an additional $20,000.
   The music is $26,000 alone because everybody gets paid including the high schools. Pipe bands are a $1,000 and up. Miss St. Patrick Scholarship is $3,000 and they had to drop two of them due to the additional charges they got, he said.
   Marchers included several local and state dignitaries, Girl Scouts, local sport organizations, local businesses and organizations, local union organizations, Irish dancing schools, bands — high school marching, pipe and drum, floats, and various fire companies and first aid squads, and much more.
   The parade featured seven pipe bands including the Ancient Order of Hibernians Pipe Band, Tir Na Nog Pipe Band, Lia Fail Pipe Band, Hamilton Township Fire Department Pipes & Drums, Greater Trenton Pipes & Drums, MacGregor Pipe Band and the Bushwacker Drum & Bugle Corp.
   “We have some different string bands,” Mr. McKelvey said. “What we have managed to do is to bring the outstanding string bands from Philadelphia that are in that Mummer’s Parade and we’ve got a new award winning pipe band.”
   In addition, the parade also featured nine mummers’ bands which included the Fralinger String Band, Uptown String Band, Woodland String Band, Second Street String Band, Broomhall String Band, Polish-American String Band, Aqua String Band, Quaker City String Band and Durning String Band.