Tens of thousands of spectators are expected in Montauk on Sunday as the easternmost hamlet hosts the 64th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
The John Behan Grand Marshal Luncheon, tomorrow at Montauk Downs State Park, is sold out, as is Saturday’s annual cocktail party at Gurney’s Montauk Resort and Seawater Spa. The cocktail party will feature live music by Candy Shop and the Amityville American Legion Pipes & Drums.
Just a few Pot of Gold raffle tickets remain, and can be bought from a member of the Montauk Friends of Erin.
The parade starts at noon, with participants marching south from Edgemere Street, turning east onto South Euclid Avenue at Tauk at Trail’s End restaurant before turning south on South Edison Street, by the post office, and then west on Main Street. The parade will conclude at the I.G.A. supermarket.
Leading the festivities will be the grand marshal, Tom Grenci Jr., who was born in Montauk, his family living in the last house on Long Island when his father, Thomas Grenci Sr., was a policeman stationed at Montauk Point State Park. He graduated from the Montauk School in 1977 and East Hampton High School in 1981. As a Cub Scout, his den leader was Joan Lycke, a past grand marshal of the parade, and as a Boy Scout his father was his scoutmaster.
Mr. Grenci followed in his father’s footsteps, joining the Montauk Fire Department in 1981 and rising through the ranks to lieutenant, captain, second assistant chief, first assistant chief, and, in 1996, chief.
He joined the East Hampton Town Police Department as a traffic control officer and part-time police officer in 1982. He later worked as a part-time state park police officer and town dispatcher and police garage mechanic until he was appointed as a full-time police officer in 1988. He was named Police Officer of the Year in 1991, became a detective in 1999, a sergeant in 2004, a lieutenant in 2010, and was precinct commander from 2005 to 2010. He retired as Montauk precinct commander and field training officer in 2015.
Mr. Grenci has served his community in myriad ways. He has been a member of the Montauk Lions Club since 1997, was made an honorary member of the Montauk Friends of Erin in 2014 before joining as a member in 2019, and is a member of the Sons of the American Legion. He owns Montauk Home Surveillance, which was established in 1991.
As a lifelong resident, Mr. Grenci can recall St. Patrick’s Day festivities of the mid-1960s, when the parade, like the hamlet itself, was a far smaller affair.
“Before becoming a Cub and Boy Scout, before Montauk School would even do a float, I would always go down to the firehouse and help my father wax the trucks, just to be around it,” he said. He recalled watching the parade from the balcony above the hardware store on Main Street.
For all the changes his hometown has experienced across the years, there is nowhere Mr. Grenci would rather be. “Besides the beauty of the land, the water, the Lighthouse,” he said, “it’s the people that I grew up with, their parents, the teachers, the organizations, the Fire Department, the Lions Club, the Friends of Erin, Sons of the American Legion. It’s been a good run.”
Now, as grand marshal, “It still hasn’t sunk in,” he said. “I guess it will. The big thing for me will be when you turn onto Main Street, and seeing all the people, the crowd. I guess for me it’s representing all the past grand marshals — I knew or know most of them, since I was a little bambino. I hope everybody has an enjoyable, safe day.”
