See the 2012 Line of March at the bottom of this story.
By Robyn Quinn
Coming down South Street in Morristown on March 10 will be thousands of people celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. There will be colorful costumes, music playing, banners swaying, balloons in the air, horses prancing, and children smiling. The town will be draped in green! As all of this floats down the street, it reminds me of a symphony.
A symphony is a classical piece of music made up of three or four parts. It is elaborate music played by an orchestra. The orchestra is guided by its conductor. When it all comes together it’s magic.
Photos by Al DeBenedictis. Please click icon below for captions.
The Morris County St. Patrick’s Parade is our symphony. It is an elegant creation that is performed by our orchestra. Our orchestra is the many diverse groups that march in the parade.
There are Irish step dance schools in their traditional costumes; the bagpipe and drum bands wearing their kilts playing their powerful tunes; Roller Derby ladies skating down the road; floats decorated with all the colors of Ireland; a stage coach being pulled by four strapping horses; and the thousands of people in the organizations that march.
A symphony has four parts, our parade has four divisions. The orchestra is a group of different types of instruments that sound nice when played on their own, but when they all come together they make a magnificent noise. Our orchestra is 125 organizations and bands. Each organization and band is interesting by itself, but when you put them altogether and see them march down South Street they make a glorious tune.
The conductor of the orchestra brings all the musicians together as one voice. Before the performance begins, each musician is tuning up his or her instrument. They are concerned about their individual pieces in the symphony. When the conductor walks out onto the stage and taps his baton, all become silent. As the conductor’s arms begin to sway backwards and forth, you do not hear all the different instruments, there is only one unified sound.
The conductor of the parade’s orchestra for the past five years has been Patrick Fahy. Pat is a Line of March Coordinator, responsible for taking each individual group or band and bringing them all together as one unified parade.
The floats arrive at the parking lot on the day of the parade at 9 am. As the floats arrive they are placed in their position. Next the vehicles arrive at 10 am and are placed around the floats. The marchers are to be there by 11 am, they fill in any open space left in the parking lot. It is like those musicians before the performance, each concerned with their own part of the symphony. The beginning of our symphony is not the tapping of a baton, but the cutting of a ribbon by the Parade Starter to signal the performance has begun.
Pat brings the structured chaos of the parking lot into an outstanding performance. As each group sees the group ahead of it stepping out into the lineup, they join them and things begin to fall into place. The banner of St. Patrick glides down South Street as the first note of the parade symphony begins and all the different groups blend into one breathtaking parade.
Robyn Quinn serves on the parade committee and is involved with organizing the line of march. Each year a member of the Irish Community is selected to start the parade. This year’s parade starter is Michael (Micky) Doyle of the Doyle Funeral Home in Morristown. And don’t forget to wave hello to MorristownGreen.com, marching in Division Two on Saturday!
MORE ABOUT THE 2012 ST. PATRICK’S PARADE
THE 2012 LINE OF MARCH
GROUP NAME / PLACE
Division One – Munster
Police Unity Tour 1
Parade Starter – Michael “Mickey” Doyle 2
VFW – Watnong Post #3401 3
Saint Patrick’s Banner 4
RORY O’MOORE PIPES & DRUMS 5
Grand Marshal 6
Friendly Sons of St. Patrick of Morris County 7
Welcome Home Veterans 8
Former Grand Marshal’s MC Saint Patrick’s Day Parade 9
CuCHULLAIN PIPE BAND OF MORRIS COUNTY 10
Irish American Association of Northwest Jersey 11
Peter Smith School of Irish Dance 12
TD Bank 13
County College of Morris 14
BERGEN POLICE PIPE BAND 15
Congressmen 16
State Senators and Assemblymen 17
Morris County Mayors 18
Morris County Freeholders 19
Morris County Town Council Members 20
GUARD PIPE BAND 21
St. Patrick’s Parade Comm. (other parades) 22
Lakeland Bank 23
Morristown Medical Center 24
MORRISTOWN HIGH SCHOOL BAND 25
Trend Motors 26
Morristown Financial 27
Peerless Beverage Co. 28
FUSION BAND 29
Wharton Fire Department 30
Provident Bank 31
Morristown National Historical Park 32
POLICE PIPES & DRUMS OF MORRIS COUNTY 33
Emerald Society of NJ, Chapter #3 34
Morris County Sheriff’s Office 35
Morristown Kiwanis Club 36
Division Two – Leinster
American Legion – Denville 1
DENVILLE STRING BAND 2
Leadership Morris Chamber of Commerce 3
Morris County Prosecutor’s Office 4
Daily Record 5
COLONIAL MUSKETEERS FIFE & DRUM JR. 6
Ancient Order of Hibernians Morris County, Div 1 7
Edean Academy of Irish Dance 8
Vietnam Veteran’s Chapter #327 9
American Merchant Marine Veterans 10
ST. COLUM CILLE BAND 11
WDHA & WMTR 12
MorristownGreen.com 13
Well’s Fargo Home Mortgage 14
American Legion – Mine Hill Post 391 15
SOMERSET COUNTY POLICE PIPES AND DRUMS 16
Knights of Columbus Msgr. Sheerin Assembly 17
Morristown & Morris Township Library 18
Dublin Pub 19
Dubin on the Run 20
Molly Malone’s 21
Morristown Rotary Club 22
ORANGE HIGH SCHOOL BAND 23
Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey 24
American Red Cross of Northern New Jersey 25
South Jersey Dachshund Club 26
AMERICAN WELDRY BAND 27
Madison Hotel & Rod’s Ranch House 28
Woodland Hook & Ladder Co #1 29
Jefferson Twp Rescue Squad 30
Jefferson Fire Dept. 31
Division Three – Ulster
American Legion – Frank Patterson Post 43 1
COLONIAL PIPERS BAGPIPE BAND 2
Morris Plains Rotary 3
The Seeing Eye Dogs 4
Wick Hegarty School of Irish Dance 5
Blackthorn Pub Rt. 46 6
Morris County 4-H Clubs 7
Cub Scouts & Boys Scouts 8
HARMONY BAND 9
Morristown Jr. Colonial Athletic Club 10
Dead End Kids 11
Whippany Fire 12
Rockaway Fire Dept. 13
Morris County Democratic Party 14
H & R Block of Morristown 15
Weichert Realtors of Morristown 16
Jerzey Derby Brigade 17
COLONIAL MUSKETEERS SENIOR FIFE & DRUM 18
Morristown Ambulance Squad 19
Tin Can Sailors Inc. 20
Morristown Fire Dept 21
New Vernon Fire Dept. 22
Cedar Knolls Fire Dept. 23
Morris Plains Volunteer Fire Dept 24
CLAN NA VALE BAND 25
Morris County Right to Life 26
Greyhound Friends of NJ 27
St. Virgil School Morris Catholic Jr. School 28
Rangers of Wild West City 29
Division Four – Connaught
American Legion – Post 249 Parsippany 1
ESSEX SHELELEIGH PIPES AND DRUMS 2
Noah Ark 3
Sharon School of Dance 4
St. Patrick School 5
Morris Minute Men First Aid Squad 6
Denville Volunteer Fire Dept. 7
Budd Lake Fire Department 8
Harrington Construction Co 9
TRI COUNTY PIPE BAND 10
Market Street Mission 11
Parsippany Troy Hills Fire Association 12
Lake Hiawatha Fire Dept. 13
Morris County Voiture 228 14
Roxbury Fire Dept. 15
Roxbury Police Honor Guard 16
Morris County National Organization for Women (NOW) 17
PASSAIC COUNTY MARCHING BAND 18
Pancreatic Cancer Action Network in NJ 19
Native Dogs of Ireland – Stradbrook Kennels Inc. 20
Relay for Life 21
Greater Morris YMCA 22
Long Valley Auto Body t/a Delorean Entertainment 23
Morris County Youth Hockey League 24
Morris Rugby Corp. 25
MADISON HIGH SCHOOL 26
Morris County Saint Patrick’s Day Parade Comm. 27
what a great day for the Irish……what a wonderful day for Morristown , we have the best Parade in the state……..the committee works hard all year to make the town smile……Chef Melody, I am proud to be a parade committee member since it came to Morristown……………………………..as Macy’s Herald Square would say,”lets have a Parade.”……………………………………………….