Dutchess County’s 30th Annual St. Patrick's Parade Celebrates Tradition and Growth
People from all around the Hudson Valley gathered to celebrate the St. Patricks's Day paradeheld in Wappingers Falls. Photo by Elizabeth Baumgardner '25.
The streets of Wappingers Falls were a sea of green on March 1 as Dutchess County celebrated its 30th annual St. Patrick’s Day parade. Upwards of 10,000 people gathered to celebrate Irish culture as the sounds of marching bands and bagpipes filled the air.
The day began with a 9 a.m. Mass led by the bishop of Poughkeepsie. The Mass was dedicated to Father Charles Coen, the parade’s first grand marshal who had recently passed away. Following the Mass, the parade committee members made sure the participants were ready to go and that the various law enforcement services were in place.
The day’s festivities kicked off at 12:45 p.m. with the annual Shamrock Run. The one and a half mile race followed the parade route and ended in Mesier Park. At 1 p.m., the official parade began.
For the parade’s 30th anniversary, the committee members wanted to highlight the people who help bring the parade to life each year. With planning meetings taking place at the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) in Wappingers Falls, it was a natural decision to honor the region’s veterans. The committee chose to recognize WWII and Korean War veterans by having them lead the parade from outside the VFW.
Planning for the parade goes year-round, but the committee starts official planning meetings in September, meeting once a month until the end of the year. Beginning in January, the committee meets once a week until the parade.
Now, the parade has grown into a prestigious event for Dutchess County, but it started from more humble beginnings.
Back in 1995, a group of Irish Americans got together, along with members of the Kevin Barry Irish Club and the Ancient Order of Hibernians, to put on a parade that celebrated their Irish heritage. They went to Saint Mary's Catholic Church and got permission to line up the start of the parade in their parking lot. The early years of the parade all started outside of St. Mary’s.
“In the early years, committee meetings for the parade were often disjointed and involved lots of infighting between members,” said Geen Noone, committee chairman of the parade. He quickly saw that something needed to change.
“I basically left and went back to my executive chef's job at Knights of Columbus, and I cooked 1,000 pounds of corned beef for the party people,” Noone continued.
The food helped to settle tensions and bring everyone back on the same page. This act quickly landed Noone a spot on the board as the committee secretary, and he later became chairman, a role he has held for the last 15 years.
“When I became chairman, I kind of streamlined things because that's just my forte,” Noone said. “I map out an agenda, and everybody knows what they're supposed to report on.”
No one has worked harder during his time as chairman to expand the parade to the size it is now. In the first few years, the parade would go on for about 30 minutes and only had one band. 30 years later, the parade now lasts for over two and a half hours and has 24 floats, nine bands, and between 1,000 and 1,500 marchers.
Next year’s parade is scheduled for March 7, and planning is already underway. If the past is any indication, it will be the biggest one yet.