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19 NOW www.bayportbluepointgazette.com April 2014 GazetteCentral@yahoo.com enjoy this parade and always have a good time. It is terrifc all the people that come out to cheer us on.” The St. Patrick’s Day Parade is an event that everyone in Bayport, Blue Point and the surrounding communities look forward to every year. Each group in the parade is entertaining and celebrates the day in unique ways. This year there was leprechauns, little ninjas, Quacker Jack, lacrosse players with silly string, people on unicycles, bicycles and stilts, every type of classic car, and fre trucks decorated with shamrocks. Many of the foats featured dogs decked out in green accessories – even one dyed green. The Bayport Aerodrome wowed the crowd when their planes few over the parade. And of course a favorite during an Irish parade - the pipe and drum bands. Lori Graham of Bayport stood along the parade route waiting for her daughter to dance by with her dance school. “We always come to the parade. It is just a great day and so fun to see everyone.” The Chamber is already planning next year’s parade and it will be extra special since it’s Parade number 25. Green Bagels, Corned Beef and a Parade St. Patrick’s Parade Day Traditions by Danielle Golden Giglio The Bayport-Blue Point Chamber of Commerce’s St. Pat- rick’s Day Parade is defnitely an unoffcial holiday for our towns. For as long as the parade has been going on, so have the celebrations before and after the big event. At the crack of dawn on parade day many parade goers are strategically setting up their viewing area in the empty parking lots along Montauk Highway. Pickup trucks have benches in the beds to get a good view of the parade. Others turn sidewalks into full feasts with chairs and tables full of food and goodies to enjoy while the parade marches by. If you are not setting up a prime parade spot, then you must be at a pre-parade breakfast gathering, eat- ing the traditional meal of green bagels and Irish soda bread. These breakfasts are usually hosted by fami- lies living within walking distance of the parade. Last minute parade prep happens here with kids getting hair sprayed green and shamrocks painted on faces. For the past six years Megan (McCooey) Alicea of Bayport holds a St. Patrick’s Day Parade breakfast at her home inviting family, friends and neighbors. Parade day is one of her favorite times of the year especially since her father is from Ireland. “I love this day! It is community holiday. Everybody is in a happy mood and comes together to watch the parade.” After the parade the celebrations do not stop. Lots of parade goers host dinners at their houses just off the parade route. Neighborhood streets are flled with families walking from one house party to another. Ed McDonald of Bayport has been having a parade after party for ten years. The night before his wife cooked 50 pounds of corned beef for the many family and friends that stopped by to celebrate. He enjoys St. Patrick’s Parade Day and said, “The parade is now a tradition that my kids are excited about and look forward to every year. We walk down to the parade. It is tradition now, even the kids are excited for it and now their friends come too. Before it was just us, but now it is their friends too. We look forward to it every year.” St. Pat’s Parade 2014 Photographs by Danielle Golden-Giglio, Walter Petrule, Harry Posnanski and Nikita Dorcinvil