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
