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

Parade 2016

NEW YORK COUNTY LAOIS ASSOCIATION

 Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Thursday, March 17, 2016  

 Assembly Time:  We will assemble again this year at 48 West 48th Street, at 3:20 p.m. to more accurately reflect the time we may actually start marching. We are positioned in the line of march after County Carlow and ahead of County Wicklow.

 The 100th Anniversary of the Easter Rising: The centennial of the Easter Rising is being marked by the appointment of Senator George J. Mitchell as the Parade’s Grand Marshal. Senator Mitchell successfully brokered the Good Friday Agreement, gaining another major step in Ireland’s centuries-long quest for independence and freedom.

 Laois Grand Marshal:  Congratulations to Cormac McEvoy, this year’s Grand Marshal for the Laois Association. Cormac has been marching in the parade for about thirty years, along with his parents Judy and Larry and his three brothers, Rory, Shane, and Hugh. He has often helped the Laois members carry their banner and flags, and together with his wife, Stephanie, he launched and maintained the Laois Blog, with its galleries of annual parade photos, on our website, www.nylaoisassociation.com. He and Stephanie now bring their children, Moira, Eamonn, and Aisling to march up the avenue with County Laois. Cormac often travels to Laois and Ireland to meet up with his extended family of grandparents, aunts, uncle, and cousins. He says he gained a lot of inspiration from these travels, as well as from trips to Japan, Costa Rica, Hawaii, and Italy, where he and Stephanie studied art for a semester in Florence.  He graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), earning two degrees in illustration and toy design. Cormac currently works as an award-winning toy designer for Alex Brands in Little Falls, New Jersey. In 2014, Forbes magazine ranked one of his designs second in its top ten educational toys of the year,

Laois Visitors:  We extend a sincere “Céad Mile Fáilte” to Laois County Council representatives John Moran, Leas Cathaoirleach, and Chief Executive John Mulholland and his wife Bridget who are flying in from Ireland to join us on the avenue for this historic occasion. 

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

 Dress Code:  The St. Patrick’s Day Committee has requested that we adhere to the following dress code: no sneakers, jeans, or inappropriate dress and head gear.  

 Bill McEvoy:  We once again salute our senior Laois statesman, Bill McEvoy, who was a founding member and activist of Ceoltas Ceoltori na hEireann in the U.S. and Canada, and who now, at the ripe age of 93, assures us he will join us on Fifth Avenue on this historic St Patrick’s Day. Moreover, last October Bill journeyed to Abbeyleix to represent our Association at the celebrations for the 100thanniversary of Laois’s great win over Cork in the 1915 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship at Croke Park. Please see Bill’s report of the event and the launching of a book for the occasion compiled by Teddy Fennelly, former Managing Editor of the Leinster Express, on our NY Laois Association Blog (below). We would also like to congratulate Bill and his wife, Lily, on their 66th wedding anniversary which they celebrated last month. Never known as one to throw in the towel, Bill is still writing, organizing, traveling, enjoying his nine children, 25 grandchildren, and almost 15 great-grandchildren, and naturally, playing in his own band.

 Tom Phelan:   Congratulation to Mountmellick native Tom Phelan on publishing his sixth novel, Lies the Mushroom Pickers Told, during 2015. This July, he’ll see his acclaimed novel of Ireland in World War I, The Canal Bridge, released in paperback by Arcade Publishing. At the same time Tom is working on his memoirs, Working for JohnJoe, selections of which appear from time to time in the Irish Echo; “Dad Wasn’t a Dev Fan” was published last June and “To School with Uncle Jack and Red” a couple of weeks ago. Tom’s novels are available in hard copy and as ebooks. For more information, see www.tomphelan.net and www.facebook.com/tomphelannovels. Tom’s wife, Patricia Phelan, edits the award-winning Newsletter of the Irish Family History Forum (www.ifhf.org) and works as a professional genealogist specializing in Irish and U.S. family history.  She has written a couple of articles on genealogy for the Irish Echo, including “Fact and Fiction in Family History” (Feb. 21, ‘06). She can be contacted at glanvil3@aol.com.

 Web and Blog sites   Laois Blog: www.nylaoisassociation.com for previous years’ photo galleries etc.   NYC Saint Patrick’s Day Parade website:  www.nycstpatricksparade.org.

 See You on the Avenue ... Le Chonaigh De