Thousands Line Patchogue Streets For 1st Parade To Fall On St. Patrick's Day

PATCHOGUE, NY — A sea of green took over Patchogue Village's Main Street with officials estimating that 12,000 people stood 10-deep, lining the sidewalks on Sunday for the first-ever St. Patrick's Day parade to fall on St. Patrick's Day.

"It was just a tremendous amount of people," Mayor Paul Pontieri said of the throng of thousands.

The annual tradition kicked off around noon with the co-owners of Reese's 1900 leading the line of march as grand marshals.

The parade stretched from Route 112 to West Avenue, drawing area fire departments, community groups, and businesses with an array of marching units and floats. Some floats had singers, others like Harbor Crab, had what else but a pair of dancing crabs.

Pipe and drum bands came from all over.

The sound of traditional Irish music on bagpipes wafted through the air, as well as modern tunes like "I'm Shipping Up To Boston" by Dropkick Murphys and House of Pain's "Jump Around."

The Long Island Ducks' Quacker Jack and the Ghostbusters also made an appearance.

Parade chairman Tom Keegan agreed with Pontieri's estimate of the crowd.

"It certainly was the biggest crowd we ever had for the St. Patrick's Parade in Patchogue in the last 30 years," he said.

The village also saw the largest number of people attend the pre-parade race, May the Road Rise To Meet You 5K, with 600 runners.

"By far it was the biggest collection of runners that started the race," Keegan said.

The line of march came to an end at around 1:30 p.m., but it took the village's Department of Public Works an hour afterward to clean up Main Street and Public Safety to move the crowd onto the sidewalk so that traffic could pass, according to Pontieri.

"It was the biggest parade ever on Main Street, along with the Christmas parade and all other parades," he said.

Past years have seen good-size crowds in the thousands, but Pontieri imagines it was the combination of the parade falling on St. Patrick's Day itself, as well as the warm weather that drew the large crowd.

"It was about as big as you could get in such a small place like Patchogue," he said.

Brian and Patchogue residents Erica and Briab Sapp brought their two sons, Nathanial and Theo.

"Every year we try to come, weather permitting," Erica said. "It's a great time for the kids. They enjoy getting all the free handouts and seeing the fire trucks."

She thought it was an extra special day considering the parade fell on St. Patrick's Day itself.
Brian said many come for the parade revelry, as well as to check out the restaurants and bars afterward.

He urged anyone who has not attended to check it out next year, saying that it's something everyone can enjoy.

"It's a great opportunity to check out local businesses, bars, and restaurants," he said, adding that it's also a good place to bring children.

Many paradegoers did head to the restaurants and bars for the after-celebration and Pontieri expected the revelry would continue into the night.

"I also think a lot of people have cabin fever," Pontieri said. "It was a beautiful day to get out and a parade is not a bad thing to go to."

Despite the large number of attendees, there was no trouble from the jovial crowd, which was held in check by security hired by the Greater Patchogue Chamber of Commerce, and the Suffolk police department is always on hand, Pontieri said.

"We're very lucky to village with 5th Precinct," Pontieri said, adding that the officers "always take care of us."

"It was a pretty good day," he added.