The Luck o’ the Irish will bring sunny skies and warm temperatures to Jamesport Saturday afternoon, says the grand marshal of the First Annual Jamesport St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
There may even be a rainbow or two, as morning showers give way to blue skies and afternoon sunshine in time for the 1 o’clock start to the parade, which will step off on Main Road at Washington Avenue and continue to South Jamesport Avenue. With the participation of 26 groups confirmed and another dozen awaiting confirmation, the East End Emerald Society’s inaugural parade is shaping up nicely, said society cofounder Sean O’NeiLL.
“We couldn’t be happier with how this has taken shape,” O’NeiLL said last night at a pre-parade event hosted by the East End Emerald Society at Jason’s Vineyard. Jason’s will also host a parade after-party Saturday, O’NeiLL said.
Jamesport, Riverhead and Mattituck fire departments will be marching, there will be an “informal” band of bagpipers filling the air with music and even an “Irish Santa” decked out in emerald green velvet waving to the crowd from his perch on a fire truck.
But no Paddy’s parade is complete without a grand marshal — and this one has a charter member of the New York City Emerald Society to fill that role: Jack Cuddy, 88, World War II and Korean war veteran and a retired NYPD chief of detectives who went on to a second career as a chief investigator for the Nassau County district attorney.
Cuddy proudly donned top hat and satin sash last night for photos with the East End Emerald Society’s charter members, one of whom is his son, John, also a retired NYC police detective.
“I’m very pleased and proud to be honored as grand marshal,” Cuddy said last night before being introduced to the crowd by his son as “gentleman Jack Cuddy, also known as the silver fox” — and being toasted with three rounds of “hip-hip-hooray!”
“This is all about celebrating the area’s proud Irish heritage,” organizer Walter Magee told the cheering crowd at Jason’s Vineyard last night.
“After March 22, it’s not over. We are here to be a positive influence in our community,” said Magee, a NYC investment banker who summered in Jamesport with his family as a youngster and now owns a home in Jamesport himself.
Magee, Cuddy, O’NeiLL and Brandon Hewes, joined by Rich Stephenson and Sean McCabe, have been working in overdrive to pull the parade together with very short lead time — O’NeiLL filed the parade permit application with Riverhead Town on Feb. 24.
“We couldn’t have done this without community support,” Magee said. “We did it together and this is just a start,” he promised.
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