Irish of Havertown To Join St. Patrick’s Day Parade Celebration

For many, St. Patrick’s Day marks a day of Irish potato candy and the Little People dancing around.

But for Mary Griffin-Price and the Irish of Havertown, it is all about tradition.

And that is one of the reasons why the organization will be participating in the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade at noon, Sunday, March 11.

Griffin-Price, the Irish of Havertown’s recording secretary, said the group will once again be using a float for the parade this year, with this year’s theme depicting the famous picture showing steel workers having a lunch break on a steel beam with a 1932 New York City skyline in the background.

And just like the picture, called Lunch atop a skyscraper, the float will feature the same scenery. St. Patrick will also be on the float, blessing the American workers, while at the back of the float will feature Irish dancers, Griffin-Price explained.

In previous years, the Irish of America had floats that featured the reenactment of the Last Supper, live doves and even featured live sheep. Over the years the group’s floats have won various awards in the parade.

“But there are no animals this year,” laughed Maureen Thorne, the group’s treasurer.

But Havertown’s Irish background has always been strong, explained Griffin-Price. 

“Per capita Havertown has the highest of Irish in the country,” she said, whose parents came to America in the 1950s from Ireland.

She also added that Havertown got its nickname the “33rd county” as a reference to Ireland’s 32 counties.

For Griffin-Price and many others of the Irish of Havertown, the parade marks a day of celebrating their Irish heritage and being with loved ones.

“It’s a family event. There are lots of kids involved,” Griffin-Price said, who used to be a dancer in the parade when she was a teenager.

And this year’s float will be dedicated to the group’s founder, the late Jim Kilgallen. 

However the Irish of Havertown alone could not have built the float, admitted Griffin-Price and Thorne.

“Those (Haverford) township guys have been great to us,” Thorne said, who explained that the township allowed the group to work on the float in one of its storage units at the public works facility.

But thanks have been given to Carr-Duff Electrical Construction, which donated one of their 45-foot-long flatbeds to the group so they can use it as a float.

“Without them, we couldn’t be in the parade,” Thorne said.

The parade starts at noon and it will be aired on the CW Philly 57 from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m.