Parade 2018

NEW YORK COUNTY LAOIS ASSOCIATION

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Saturday, March 17, 2018

Early Assembly Time  Good news! Our Laois Association is moving up to an early
assembly time this year: 11 a.m. near 50 West 44 th St., between Fifth and Sixth Ave.
We’ll be behind Co. Donegal and in front of Co. Derry. Please remember that we’ll be
marching during the TV coverage of the parade, so the parade committee’s dress code
is very important: no sneakers, jeans, or inappropriate dress or head attire.

Laois Visitors   We are honored to welcome the Laois County Council delegation, who
are flying in for St. Patrick’s Day and will join us on Fifth Ave. for the parade. The Laois
County Council representatives include Patrick Fleming, the County Cathaoirleach, or
Chairman, and John Mulholland, the County Chief Executive, together with their wives.

Laois Grand Marshal Shane McEvoy has accepted the Association’s invitation to be
our Grand Marshal this year. Shane, who has been marching with Laois since he was a
toddler, has often helped, along with his three brothers, to carry the Association’s flags
and banner.  For many years too, Shane visited his grandparents in his ancestral
homes in Mountmellick, Co. Laois, and Dalkey, Dublin, and also met with his aunts,
uncle, and cousins. More recently, he has traveled to Belfast to spend time with his
friends involved in the struggle for peace and justice.  On his trips to Mountmellick, he
always visits the Wolfe Tone St. monument to the eleven hometown martyrs of 1798,
which includes his great-great grandfather, who were tortured and hanged at that spot
by the British occupying army. 
Shane is a graduate of Chaminade High School and Hunter College.  Both Shane and
his wife, Tsedeye Gebreselassie, have long been committed to pushing the frontiers of
progressive causes rooted in economic and social justice and equality. This work has
brought Shane to many places including Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Venezuela, Cuba,
Algeria, and Western Sahara. In our own city he was involved in the campaign to make
the St. Patrick's Parade more inclusive of all Irish people. Shane is the founder of NYC
Pooch, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. It has grown from a small
labor of love to one of the largest and most trusted dog care companies in New York
City. Congratulations to Shane and Tsedeye, who are expecting their first baby in July.

Congratulations too to past Laois Grand Marshal Kevin Dunphy and his wife, Joanne,
who are expecting their first child in August.

Bill McEvoy   Once again we salute our senior Laois statesman, Bill McEvoy, who is 95
and intends to march with us again this year. Bill was a founding member of, and
continues to be actively involved in, the Ceoltas Ceoltori na hEireann in the U.S. and
Canada. He also plays the fiddle in his own band, particularly on special occasions
such as St. Patrick’s Day.

Tom Phelan   Last year’s Laois Grand Marshal and prolific author Tom Phelan will have
his seventh book, a memoir titled The Farmhouse on Laragh Lane: An Irish Boyhood in
the 1940s, published by Simon and Schuster in November. According to the publisher,
Tom’s new book is in the tradition of Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes and Alice Taylor’s
to School through the Fields and is “a heartfelt and masterfully written memoir of
growing up in Ireland in the 1940s.” The Farmhouse on Laragh Lane deals with Tom’s
formative years working for his father, JohnJoe, on a wet, muddy, and back-breaking
farm. It offers readers a glimpse of life in the Irish countryside in the 1940s, a
time before rural electrification, before the telephone, before indoor plumbing; a time
when the main mode of travel was donkey and cart; a time when small farmers
struggled to survive, and women hatched turkeys in the kitchen cupboard; a time when
the Church exerted enormous control over Ireland. See www.tomphelan.net for more
details.

Please send us your email addresses to facilitate us in emailing our press releases and
notifications. Please see our contacts on page 1.

Web and Blog Sites
 Laois Blog: www.nylaoisassociation.com for previous year’s photo gallery, etc.
 NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade website:  www.nycstpatricksparade.org.


______________________________________________________________________

Contacts: Mike Dunphy, President, (973) 886-6097,  mike.dunphy@att.net
Larry McEvoy, Vice President, (917) 833-3218,
larrymcevoy2@gmail.com

See You on the Avenue ... Le Chonaigh De

Parade 2017

NEW YORK COUNTY LAOIS ASSOCIATION

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! 

Friday, March 17, 2017

Assembly and Time:  Assemble at 48 West 48th St., at 3:20 p.m. between Fifth and Sixth Aves. and between Counties Carlow and Wicklow.  Good news from the Parade Committee: in the future all the county associations will have an opportunity to take their place up front in the parade every third year.

Dress Code:  Please remember that the St. Patrick’s Day Committee strictly adheres to the following dress code: no sneakers, jeans, or inappropriate dress and head gear.

Laois Grand Marshal:  We are delighted to announce that our Association member, Laois author  and Mountmellick native Tom Phelan, has accepted our invitation to be this year’s Grand Marshal, leading us up Fifth Ave. in the parade. When his debut novel was published in Ireland, one enthusiastic reviewer wrote, “Where has Mr. Phelan been?” Tom did not disappoint but went on to publish five more novels and is currently at work on his seventh. He has seen his work published in four countries and three languages.  In addition, Tom's memoir pieces about growing up in Mountmellick appear regularly in the Irish Echo; the latest, “Wasted on the Bog Air,” is in the March 8-14 edition (http://irishecho.com/2017/03/87947/).  Mountmellick residents were so inspired by his World War I novel, The Canal Bridge, that they erected a fine monument to the many local people killed on the battlefields of Europe.

Laois Visitors:  We are also happy to announce that Laois County Council representatives Tom Mulhall, the Cathaoirleach (Chairman), and Gerry Murphy, representing the Chief Executive, together with their wives, will join us in the parade on Fifth Ave. They also hope to attend the mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the Business Summit on Ireland-U.S. Economic Relations, as well as a meeting with the Irish Development Authority (IDA) before they leave New York.

Contacts
Mike Dunphy, President, (973) 886-6097,  mike.dunphy@att.net
Larry McEvoy, Vice President, (917) 833-3218,  larrymcevoy2@gmail.com

Updates on Members

Bill McEvoy: Incredibly, Bill, now at 94 years, will be the most senior person marching in the parade.  This past year, however, was a very tough one for Bill. Not only did he lose Lile, his beloved wife for 65 years, but also his daughter Miriam O’Grady, as well as his sister and brother in Ireland. On behalf of the Laois Association we extend our heartfelt sympathies and condolences to him. Bill has an amazing resume, being a founding member of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann (CCE) in the U.S. and Canada and spearheading its vast expansion across North America during his 25 years as its chief executive. Under his watch the first traditional Irish music concert tours were organized and grew into an annual event, which contributed to the formation of 40 branches of the CCE with over 3600 members. Since his retirement as chief in 1987, Bill has received the highest accolades from Comhaltas in Ireland, including Irishman of the Year award, and President for Life of CCE in North America.  Bill continues to be active in playing the fiddle in his own band at many functions, writing, organizing, traveling and enjoying his large family of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. He’s off to Chicago and Dublin on CCE business in the coming weeks. “Go n’eiri an bother leat”.

Launch of Tom Phelan Novel: The paperback of Tom Phelan’s acclaimed novel Lies the Mushroom Pickers Told will be launched on Tuesday, March 14, at 7:30 p.m. in the Garden City Library, Seventh St., Garden City, NY.  Sponsored by the Irish Cultural Society, this event is free and open to all. Apart from his novels, Tom has written for Newsday, the Irish Echo, the journal of the American Irish Historical Society, and others. He has given readings and talks at Villanova and Hofstra Universities, NYU Ireland House, American Irish Historical Society, Irish American Writers and Artists, and scores of other venues. Last fall, he was awarded a writer’s residency at Obras Portugal in Evoramonte.
     Patricia Phelan, Tom’s wife, works as a professional genealogist, specializing in Irish and American research. She is program director for the Irish Family History Forum, which meets monthly in the Bethpage Public Library.  (glanvil3@aol.com).
   
Website and Blog
We would greatly appreciate it if our members would send us their email addresses as well as the names of potential members for our Laois Association.

Laois Blog: www.nylaoisassociation.com for previous years’ photo galleries, etc.
·      
NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade website:  www.nycstpatricksparade.org

See You on the Avenue...Le Chonaigh De