With the Montauk Friends of Erin's St. Patrick's Day parade on Sunday, the season officially begins in East Hampton Town's easternmost hamlet.
Merriment will be in full display all weekend, but the main event, the 61st parade, starts at noon on Sunday, with floats, fire trucks, and pipe and drum bands from across the Island.
This year, Jim Grimes, a Montauk business owner, longtime member of the Montauk Fire Department, and an East Hampton Town trustee, will lead the way as the parade's grand marshal. He is also a legacy grand marshal, as his father Vinnie Grimes served in that role in 1986.
The parade will begin on the corner of Industrial Road and Edgemere Street and end at Kirk Park at the west side of the downtown business district.
Weather is expected to be pleasant if windy on Sunday, with mainly sunny skies, a high of 51, and winds out of the west-southwest at 15 to 25 miles per hour.