St. Patrick's Parade 1 PM Today (Saturday)
• Tom McEnery Is Grand Marshal; Irish Mass at 10 AM
Mar 1, 2012 – For the 34th consecutive year, Nutley's grand Saint Patrick's Parade steps off at 1 o'clock this Saturday afternoon led by the honorable Grand Marshal, Thomas J. McEnery who promises a record number of marchers, musicians and families all anxious to present the town's largest community celebrations of the year.
Formal festivities actually begin at 10 a.m. Saturday with an Irish Memorial Mass at St. Mary's Church, 17 Msgr. Owens Place. The Mass features Irish music, including performances by bag-pippers, and will honor Nutley veterans including those presently serving in the military.
Grand Marshal McEnery, a well-known town employee who oversees maintenance operations at Town Hall and Parks Dept. facilities, has been the president the Nutley Irish for the past seven years and is credited for the club's tremendous growth in membership. He no sooner had celebrated last year's highly successful parade before beginning to remind everyone he saw to "save March 3, 2012 for next year - it's going to be even better!"
Virtually every organization in town, from Cub Scouts and Brownies, to the high school marching band, police, firemen, military units and officials from town, county and state governments, all will be paying tribute to Nutley's St. Patrick's celebration.
Several community venues, including Veterans' Halls and the Elks Lodge, will continue the celebration after the parade ends at the Nutley Park Oval. Most of the town's pubs except record sales on Saturday as well.
The parade steps-off at 1 p.m. from the Holy Family Church parking lot. Organizers will be at that site immediately following the 10 a.m. Irish Mass at nearby St. Mary's Church. A capacity crowd is expected at the St. Mary's mass and early arrival is suggested. A wide variety of musical instruments including bagpipes and harps are featured.
Parade dignitaries this year include Karen O'Connor, the Deputy Grand Marshal; Thomas Donohoe, Irish member of the year, and Elizabeth Dunigan, the parade queen.
O'Connor is a Rutgers University graduate and is the membership chair for the Nutley Irish. She also has served as chairperson of the annual St. Patrick's dinner-dance at St Mary's and as a voluntteer with Nutley's Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Donohue has served as co-chair of the parade for the past five years and is active with Nutley's autistic community. He also organizes the annual "Parade Pub Tour" and the group's visit to Yankee Stadium. He is a member of the IBEW in the telecommunications industry..
Parade Queen Elizabeth Dunigan is a graduate of Iona College and currently is studying to become a registered nurse. Both her grandmother, Margaret O'Boyle, and her mother, Petty O'Boyle Dunigan, were past deputy grand marshals of the Nutley parade.
Parade dignitaries will also be honored next Thursday, March 8, at ceremonies in Newark conducted by the Essex County Board of Freeholders. The 4:30 p.m. "Salute to the Irish" will be held in the Essex County Hall of Records.
The Nutley Irish has also volunteered to be the flagship team for this year's "Nutley's Relay for Life," a group supporting cancer survivors. This year's relay celebration is scheduled May 18.
