More than 70 pipe bands, school groups and community organizations marched down Route 22 in Eastchester on Sunday, March 12, braving below-freezing temperatures to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
For the 13th consecutive year, the parade—organized by the Eastchester Irish-American Social Club, EIASC—spanned 1.5 miles from the Immaculate Conception Church in Tuckahoe to Lake Isle Country Club in Eastchester. Most of the crowd waited outside Mickey Spillane’s and Piper’s Kilt. Across the street was a mobile stage where officials from the town, Westchester County, the EIASC, and Sean Mackin—the parade’s grand marshal—watched and commentated on performances from the marchers.
Mackin, now a town resident and business owner, was once an activist working to promote peace in Northern Ireland, for which he was imprisoned several times before immigrating to the United States.
“It’s a great pride that I’m the grand marshal of the Eastchester parade,” he told the Review. “I’ve lived in the town for 18 years now. Both of my kids have bought houses in the town; I have four grandkids in the town. It’s great to be able to express my Irish heritage in the town of Eastchester.”
The grand marshal was accompanied in the parade by at least 10 bagpipe bands, eight schools of Irish dancers, several high school bands and dozens of community groups. Meanwhile, hundreds of residents watched on from alongside the sidewalks, bundled up in hats and gloves to fight the frigid temperature.
“It means a lot to me that people took the time to brave the cold here today,” Mackin said. “It would have been easy to sit at home and not come out and show support. But they did in true Irish spirit.”
[wzslider]
Photos/Corey Stockton
