The Montauk Friends of Erin might make it look like it’s all fun and games when they step off from the Montauk Firehouse at noon Sunday for the 63rd annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, but it takes the hard work of legions of volunteers to pull it off.
“Come March, it’s an everyday second job for everyone in the club,” Brian Matthews, the Friends of Erin’s president, said Tuesday. Club members are busy selling raffle and party tickets, booking bands and fire departments, building a float, “and everybody does this in their spare time. A lot goes into making sure this one is a success.”
Sunday’s parade will see “probably the biggest group of contingents we’ve had in a number of years,” Mr. Matthews said. There are 11 bands booked, more fire departments than last year, and additional marchers were still joining the roster as the week progressed, all overseen by the indomitable Kathy Keller, whom Mr. Matthews called “the brains behind the parade.”
Paradegoers can expect traditional participants like the Amityville Highland Pipe Band and the Promised Land Salvage Co., with its always-irreverent float created by a former grand marshal, Gordan Ryan. And a new generation of parade participants are making a name for themselves too. Mr. Matthews pointed to the Candied Anchor, a Montauk candy shop, and Creative Edge, a Montauk dance studio, as two of the “new generation” of powerhouse float creators.
The parade is the official start of the season for many Montauk businesses, “and we try to make it a full weekend,” Mr. Matthews said. “It gives everybody a chance to stretch their legs and open up their businesses.” The festivities include a lunch honoring the grand marshal, Joe Bloecker, tomorrow at Montauk Downs, and a Saturday night cocktail party at Gurney’s Resort, both of which are already sold out.
All told, it will cost more than $80,000 to put on the parade. “We start raising money for the parade the day after the parade,” Mr. Matthews said. The Friends of Erin also sponsor a seafood festival the weekend after Labor Day, a Grand Slam fishing tournament in the fall, and they are involved in the Montauk Music Festival in May. They donate to local food pantries, help support the library, the skate park, and families in need, and give out two $2,500 scholarships each to graduating high school seniors every year.
“Any time money comes in, we’re looking at how to get it back into the community,” Mr. Matthews said.
The parade route runs from the firehouse on Edgemere Street to the I.G.A. on Main Street. Afterward, members of the Friends of Erin visit local establishments along with some of the pipe and drum bands to spread the Irish cheer far and wide.
The Long Island Rail Road will run three extra trains on Sunday to accommodate those traveling to Montauk for the parade. Details are available on the L.I.R.R. website and the MTA TrainTime app.
