2011 Trenton Saint Patrick's Day Parade

Saturday, March 12th, 2011  1pm

A list of all Saint Patrick’s Day Parades in New Jersey (NJ)

 2011 Grand Marshal Wayne DeAngelo

PARADE MOVES TO HAMILTON

The 26th annual Trenton St Patrick’s Day Parade@ Hamilton, will kick off the Parade on March 12, 2011 with an open ceremony at Sayen Gardens @ 12:30 pm. At 1:00 pm the Parade will start from Sayen Garden, proceed down Mercer St., making a right on to Nottingham Way and continue to Shady Lane.

In November of 1985, a small group of people banded together to organize a St. Patrick's Day 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 is now the owner of the 149 Club on Washington Street, originated the idea.

Initially, the group consisted of four local Irish-American tavern owners. However, it expanded to include those with the expertise to organize the event. The problem was, despite all that expertise, none of them had served on a Parade Committee before or had taken on such a monumental task. Undaunted, they decided to invoke "Murphy's Law", the one that says if something can go wrong, it will.

The committee members then decided that Murphy's Law was too optimistic, so they adopted their own law - "Even the impossible will happen so be prepared to handle any crisis." As a result of that realistic philosophy, the Trenton St. Patrick's Day Parade has earned the reputation for being a finely orchestrated, precision production.

The Parade Committee is disbanded after every parade and reorganized in April by the Board of Trustees. At that time, the Chairperson and the Parade Coordinator are elected, a budget is prepared and sub-committees are organized, each of which has its own set of responsibilities. The sub-committees report their progress to the Chairperson and the Board of Trustees at monthly meetings.

The Parade budget, including scholarships, is well in excess of $50,000. Funds are raised in part by active participation of committee members at various functions throughout the year, including festivals, bus trips and its souvenir journal. The committee also raises money through their annual fund-raiser, private contributions and band sponsorship.

The Trenton St. Patrick's Day Parade is held the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day.

The Parade begins with opening ceremonies on the steps of St. Anthony's Roman Catholic Church on Olden Avenue. The Parade then marches down Olden Avenue turning left onto Hamilton Avenue. Then going down Hamilton Avenue, the main route of the Parade, participants pass the Reviewing Stand at Columbus Park. The Parade then turns left onto Chestnut Avenue and finally ends at Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church.

The Trenton St. Patrick's Day Parade annually features in excess of 120 Marching Units and Floats and draws well over 60,000 spectators.
 

TRUSTEES & OFFICERS Trustees: Pete Hourihan - Chairman Cathy McKelvey Betty O’Donnell Mary Kay Cary Tom Walls

PARADE COMMITTEE OFFICERS: Chairman – Clark Masi Treasurer – Vince McKelvey Parade Coordinator – Ed Dunn Recording Secretary - Mike Simone Corresponding Secretary - Debbie Potkay Solicitor - Tom Walls Accountant - Dave Aust

Parade Committee Chairman [email protected]

Ed Dunn, Parade Coordinator