By Kenny Walter
Staff Writer
WOODBRIDGE- Bag pipes, kilts and shamrocks will be on full display during the 43rd Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Woodbridge on March 13 .
Parade chairman Daniel Harris said the 2016 parade will kick off at 1:30 p.m. at Woodbridge High School and will take a route throughout the neighborhoods of Woodbridge with traditional Irish music before concluding at town hall.
The parade is organized by the American Irish Association of Woodbridge.
“It started out with more modest beginnings and now it is a longer parade these days,” Harris said. “Today we have seven Irish bands, we have three high school bands, there’s some other musical groups in the parade and we anticipate about 100 marching units as we do every year.”
Each year the parade committee honors five locals during the parade. This year John “Jack” Wall will be the honored as the Grand Marshal, Patricia Nixon is the Irish Woman of the Year, Ed McSherry is the Irish Man of the Year, Kylie Cahill is Miss American Irish and Brianne Carey Dowd is Lady-In-Waiting.
“It’s an extremely coveted honor and especially for me this year because it is the 100th Anniversary of the Irish Rebellion, which was the beginning of our quest for independence from Great Britain,” Wall said. “It is quite rewarding at the end because we have a wonderful parade and that’s what it’s all about.
“I am extremely honored to be chosen by the parade committee and I am overwhelmed by their support of the entire Woodbridge Irish American organization.”
Wall was born in Ireland and immigrated to Jersey City in 1956 before moving to Woodbridge.
Wall said it takes between $23,000 and $25,000 to run the parade and he has spent the last several weeks selling ads to local businesses in an ad book.
“I happen to be very involved in this parade, in fact I’ve been out the last five weeks with a partner of mine raising money for the parade,” Wall said. It is a lot of money and thankfully we have some very good businesses in the area that help us out.”
Ken Gardener, president of the American Irish Association of Woodbridge, said the parade is the most visible event run by the organization.
“I’m very proud of our organization that works year-long and is active in many volunteer activities such as feeding the homeless,” Gardner said. “It gives us great satisfaction to give smiles to our neighbors for a great day of enjoyment.”
For more information on the parade or the association visit their website at http://www.amerirish.com/.