Inclusivity Is Hallmark Of Sunnyside St. Pat's Parade

Photos Vinny DuPre The ninth annual Sunnyside St. Patrick's Day Parade on Sunday, March 2, "Cherish[ed] All the Children of the Nation Equally." No nationally known political figures graced the ninth annual St. Patrick's Parade in Sunnyside and Woodside, and even Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave notice he wouldn't be around this year, though once he had said he'd attend each parade faithfully, even after he had left office. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Controller William Thompson did return, since each is planning a run next year to succeed Bloomberg and feel that maintaining a little good will in Sunnyside and Woodside might be wise. Other city and state legislators showed up for the march on the first Sunday in March, their task made easier by the bright and sunny, if cold, weather.

Quinn, in fact, was the picture of determination in regard to the parade, being one of its grand marshals. Additionally, she disdains the St. Patrick's Day Parade, which will run its giant route up Fifth Avenue on Monday, March 17. The elders of the big parade remain adamant in their refusal to admit openly homosexual or lesbian groups to its ranks, so Quinn, being openly lesbian, has spurned it and taken to leading the small parade, which since its first march in 2000 has called itself an "inclusive" event and this year was calling itself "St. Pat's for All". The other grand marshal this past Sunday was Pete Hamill, newspaperman and novelist.

Fife and drum corps from several organizations joined in the Sunnyside St. Patrick's Day Parade. Brendan Fay, the main man behind the parade from the beginning, opened the festivities at the junction of Skillman Avenue and 43rd Street at 2 p.m., saying that several groups in support of the parade and its aims had come from Washington, Boston and Canada. A Native American prayer from the Shinnecocks was followed by a singing prayer from an Episcopal priest who called for a sing-along from his audience and, by the second repetition, got it. The third appearance of the Keltic Dreams Dancers, a group of African-American and Hispanic schoolgirls from P.S. 59 on Bathgate Avenue in The Bronx, led by their Irish teacher, Caroline Duggan, was paired with the Niall O'Leary School of Irish Dance. This and music by the ever-remarkable De Jimbe prepared the way for the grand marshals.

Malachy McCourt introduced Hamill, after giving the March 17 parade the back of his hand as "the only Catholic parade that does not honor Christians." On the platform to be quotable, McCourt described Hamill as possessing "the sanity

of a Protestant, the sanctity of a Catholic, the comity of a Jew and the exuberance of an atheist." Hamill has never been one for similar flourishes, so he looked at the parade about to start and simply said it was not Irish, Jewish, Muslim or such but one that comprised "the American alloy". He then compared the divide among the Irish and the respective parade marshals to those between the Shiite and Sunni Muslim sects. With that, it was time for Christine Quinn, who regretted that her father, Lawrence Quinn, could not attend, since he had been expected to present a ceremonial sash to her. She praised the entertainment and thanked Hamill for supporting the gay, lesbian and transsexual community. Her voice assumed campaign force as she denounced the other parade and celebrated the one at hand as a cause that will triumph. She concluded. "As we march down Skillman, we are marching directly to Fifth Avenue!"

The parade was soon in progress, with a new adornment this year, thanks to the Police Department: a vanguard of six mounted police officers, who walked their horses from the junction of Woodside Avenue and 56th Street to the point of parade's end at 62nd Street, across Roosevelt Avenue. The marchers and musicians came after. Next year's is the 10th parade, and many expressed both hopes that the horses would be back and strong beliefs that the mayoral candidates will.