Biting cold reduced the turnout from years past, but the fifth annual Rumson St. Patricks Day Parade was another yet another spirited affair Sunday.
Were you there, or do you know someone who was? Check out our photos below for familiar faces. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
The fifth annual Rumson St. Patrick’s Day Parade caps a weekend of celebrations of Irish heritage Sunday.
It’s the kind of tradition that’s become something of a Celtic-cottage industry in itself: an event heralded by a full slate of fundraisers, competitions (essays, posters, soda bread), corned beef ‘n cabbage dinners, Irish seisuns, and even a “green tree lighting” ceremony that would give pause to Mr. Claus. All very appropriate to a ritual that’s been part of the fabric of local life for all of… four years.
Wait, what? While it’s true that the Rumson St. Patricks Day Parade is still in short pants, the annual occurrence has quickly assumed a pivotal place of prominence in community life. And when it returns for a fifth edition this Sunday, it will have cemented its staying power in the hearts of the Greater Red Bank Green, even as those minty Shamrock Shakes come and go.
The bagpipes will blow and the leprechauns will leap when the fourth annual Rumson St. Patrick’s Day Parade commences this Sunday afternoon.
It seems like one of those traditions that’s been a part of community life for generations, but the Rumson St. Patricks Day Parade is but a wee chiseler of just four years of age.
Still, the minty-fresh event has very quickly taken a place of prominence here on the Greater Red Bank Green as a signifier of a year-round local love affair with Celtic culture, even as those Shamrock Shakes may come and go. More →
Press release from Rumson St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee
The Fourth Annual Rumson St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be held on Sunday, March 13, 2016, beginning at 1 pm. The day will be complete with music, bag pipe bands, floats, marching bands from area high schools, Irish Step Dancers, classic cars, veteran groups, scouting organizations, non-profit organizations, schools, novelty acts, and area business and civic groups.
Mayor John Ekdahl and members of the borough council enthusiastically welcomed the announcement of this recently established local tradition, first organized in 2013. As she has since the event’s inception, JoAnn Pileggi of Fox 29 News Philadelphia will serve as Master of Ceremonies, and named as the 2016 Grand marshal is Jack C. Howley (pictured), president of Howley Financial Group, LLC and a founding board member and supporter of the Rumson St. Patrick’s Day Parade committee.
Bayside tables await guests at last year’s End of Summer Party on Sandy Hook. The annual fundraiser hosted by the Sandy Hook Foundation returns to the North Beach area of the peninsula this Friday evening, as one of several events of interest in the coming days.
An earlybird kickstarter for the Rumson St. Patrick’s Day celebration…a late-summer sendoff out on Sandy Hook…and a no-time-like-the-present “Shop and Sip” socializer on behalf of the Middletown Library…all dedicated to raising funds for year-round fun on the greater Green, and all on tap in the September days and nights to come.
This Friday morning, September 11, sees the first in a series of special events keyed to the annual Rumson Saint Patrick’s Day Parade on March 13, 2016, as Rumson Country Club hosts an “Erin Open” golf outing that commences with a “shambles format” shotgun start at 8 am. On-site registration begins at 7 am, and there’s an invitation to convene at the club’s River House for a post-Open cocktail reception and barbeque luncheon (featuring awards ceremony, auction and door prizes) that begins at 12:30 pm. Tickets for the reception and luncheon are $75, and information on event registration and sponsorship opportunities can be had by emailing info@rumsonstpatricksdayparade.org — while more community get-togethers in a “Done Good” vein await, after the break.
The organizers of the Rumson St. Patrick’s Day Parade have announced that this year’s third annual march will honor the memory of Michael Larkin, president of the parade’s Board of Trustees and an instrumental figure in the founding of the community event, scheduled to proceed on Sunday, March 8.
A resident of Sea Bright, and President of Michael J. Larkin Associates, a global fundraising and event consulting company, Larkin passed away in late December, while preparations were being made for the first in a round of fundraiser events keyed to this year’s parade — a schedule that kicks off on January 17 with a now-traditional party at Murphy’s Tavern in Rumson.
A co-founder of the the Sandy Hook Foundation and producer of the first three New Jersey Marathons, Larkin coordinated events for national non-profit organizations in the United States, the UK and Bermuda. In addition to the late parade president, the 2015 event will honor a pair of local charities — Jason’s Dreams for Kids, an organization that fulfills the wishes of children diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses through a variety of fundraising events, and Lincroft-based Special People United to Ride (SPUR), a program that brings both riding skills and life skills to young people through therapeutic equestrian sessions with PATH Certified instructors.
The second annual Rumson St. Patrick’s Day Parade takes to the borough streets on Sunday. Below, the Moody Blues.
Friday, February 28:
RED BANK: From the harmonies of their early, raw recordings to the dramatic sweep and ambitious scope of their orchestral masterpieces – to their repeated reunions, and a new century of crowdpleasing tours – one might be tempted to call them the British Beach Boys.
But the Moody Blues have done what they’ve done without all the meltdowns, litigation, and endless appearances on the county fair circuit of their American cohorts. And this weekend, the longtime trio of Justin Hayward (guitar), John Lodge (bass) and Graeme Edge (drums) comes to Red Bank for two consecutive nights (Friday and Saturday, 8 pm) at the Count Basie Theatre, on a Timeless Flight Tour that promises to mix those lush album-era radio classics (“Tuesday Afternoon,” “Question,” “Ride My Seesaw” and the game-changing “Nights in White Satin”) with more recent vintage oldies (“Your Wildest Dreams,” “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere”) and highlights from solo projects past. Leaving the symphony orks at home, the core Moodies are joined by an auxiliary corps of young musicians on keyboards, flute and extra drums. Tickets ($50 – $145) can be reserved right here.
Above: Public radio powerhouse Ira Glass brings his broadcast mojo to the stage of the Count Basie while, below, Elvis is back in the building, in the person (or persons) of Scot Bruce and Mike Albert.
Friday, January 17:
RED BANK: “Red Bank’s a beautiful town,” the professional Elvis Presley tribute artist Scot Bruce told us a few years back. “The King is alive and well around there.”
Never more so than January, when Scot teams up with fellow Presley-digitator Mike Albert for an Elvis Birthday Bash that comes to the Count Basie Theatre in its ninth annual edition at 8 pm. It’s a Kingly keynote to a weekend of sights, song, story and socializing that follows the tried-and-true template of “Elvi” events past. Bruce opens the show with a hip-shaking evocation of the early-days Elvis;, the stylistic savant who changed the course of mighty rivers way more than Superman ever did. He’s followed on the bill by Albert’s spot-on channeling of 1970s Elvis — he of the rhinestoned jumpsuits, championship belts, oversized shades and jet-black helmet of lacquered hair. Take it here for tickets ($20 – $40) — and flip the record over for more TCB action this weekend.
From press materials furnished by Belfer Communications
In an announcement made on Monday morning, the organizers of the 2014 Rumson St. Patricks Day Parade confirmed that Brigadier General Peter M. Dawkins, USA (Ret.) will be serving as Grand Marshal for the second annual event, scheduled for the afternoon of Sunday, March 9.
It’s a new feather in the cap of the longtime Rumson resident — a Heisman Trophy winner, decorated military commander, Citigroup vice chairman, and 1988 Republican candidate for one of the Garden State’s U.S. Senate seats. It’s also a not-insignificant honor in a career that’s seen the 1959 West Point grad and Rhodes Scholar serve with distinction on college gridirons and foreign battlefields; banking industry boardrooms and the worlds of academia, public policy and philanthropy.
Dawkins will be among the luminaries in attendance — joining Rumson Mayor John Ekdahl and parade MC JoAnn Pileggi of FOX 5 and My 9 News — during a press conference luncheon slated for January 17 at local landmark Murphy’s Tavern. The fabled watering hole and former speakeasy will also be the setting for the first of several scheduled fundraiser events, an afternoon of music, food and socializing that happens on Saturday, January 18.