March 16, 2025 • 15 mins
Original Air Date: March 16, 2025
The NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade is the oldest and largest in the world! James O’Leary and Donna McGuire of The Emerald Society discuss the proud heritage and history of Irish-Americans and the parade.
The NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade is the oldest and largest in the world! James O’Leary and Donna McGuire of The Emerald Society discuss the proud heritage and history of Irish-Americans and the parade.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, conversations about issues that matter.
Here's your host, three time Grasie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Tomorrow is Saint Patrick's Day, and of course we will
be at Connolly's and we hope you will be joining us.
And that's the Connolly's that is closest to Madison Avenue,
but it's just steps away from the start of the
Saint Patrick's Day parade.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
And we have.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Been celebrating Saint Patrick's Day with you on Q one
oh four point three.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Jim and me. Well, I think this.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Will be the twenty third year, twenty second or twenty thirty.
I mean yeah, if we're not in Ireland, then we're
with you at Connolly. So joining me this morning James O'Leary.
Now I have known James by text only for the
last five years. James O'Leary of the Emerald Society of
(00:58):
con Edison has joined our early morning shout outs.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
It's called Shelley Shoutouts.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
If you're not up around five point thirty in the morning,
you probably aren't even aware of this, but we started
it during the pandemic really as a shout out and
a heads up and a thank you to the essential
workers who were still still on their way to work,
you know, while the rest of us were shut down
with COVID. So we started this Shelley shout out at
(01:25):
five point forty in the morning, and then we have
continued this early morning tradition. And so I feel that
I know all of our early morning texters and I
talk back to them on the text, but I don't
have the pleasure of meeting them, usually in person or
on zoom. So it's so nice putting a face to
the name James O'Leary and also joining us Don A
(01:46):
McGuire of the New York City Department of Education Emerald Society.
So happy free Saint Patrick's day to both of you,
and thank you for joining me and James.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Tell us about the Emerald Society. What is it you do?
Speaker 4 (02:04):
So, yes, good morning, Uh, the our Emeralds, well, all
of the Emerald Societies. We represent the the Irish and
Irish American individuals, employees who primarily work in the blue
collar world in the New York City and you know
nationwide really right, but there I say blue collar. We
(02:26):
like to consider ourselves green collar, yes, especially in the
month of March. But yeah, we represent the uh, the
the employees that day in and day out keep our
city and our country in power, in lights and educated, right, safe,
(02:47):
law enforcement, fire. We represent all those employees that and
personnel that keep these cities running and operating safely.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Was con ed one of the first Emerald societies because
that dates back to nineteen sixty two, I saw.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
Right, So.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
We're not the first.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
The first actually happened to be the NYPD New York
Police Department Emerald Society when they first originate organized, I
want to say in the mid to late fifties, Is
that correct, Donna.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
Yes, in the fifties.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
Two years later Shelley followed up with the ny Correctional Department,
and two years after the New York Fire Department in
nineteen fifty six, And Shelle, you mentioned the essential workers
and you shout out to them, Well, the Grand Council
has organized the green collar essential workers back in the fifties,
(03:43):
where across the country they developed on city, state, and
federal levels. Grand Council through the number of sixty five
thousand members, and then there was a Grand Council of Police.
So what they did was they merged and reorganized in
(04:04):
nineteen seventy five, and here we are today. We have
Emerald Societies members in Arizona, California, Upstate and really around
the country and which is amazing.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
So what sort of work do you do the rest
of the year when you're not marching in the Saint
Patrick's Day Parade? And of course, the New York City
Saint Patrick's Day Parade is the biggest one in the world.
Speaker 5 (04:28):
Oh yes, it's the biggest and oldest.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Right, which is kind of weird because you would have
thought that Ireland would be doing it before New York City, right.
Speaker 6 (04:41):
Well, one of the reasons why, Shelley, that it started
fourteen years before the US became a country is because
the Irish immigrants were so homesick and they stick together,
and they were building, and they were like cogs in
the wheel creating the infrastructure of our city. And it
was their way of marching and showing solidarity and just
(05:07):
banning together to show pride because you know, there was
oppression back then and they all and they wanted to
show who they were and marched loud and proud. And
that's why two hundred and sixty four years later, we're
still doing that, and.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
So what was the year? What year did it start? Here?
Speaker 5 (05:26):
In March seventeenth, seventeen sixty two.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Wow, that's just unbelievable, isn't it.
Speaker 6 (05:32):
Yes, And this is Irish American Howritage month. And when
we are not celebrating our green in March, the Emeralds
are proudly doing meet and greets, We're doing zooms, book clubs,
We're raising money, We're doing scholarship dinner dances, we attend
Irish related organizations and associations, and we support in New
(05:56):
York City and throughout the country.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
So, James, tell me, how did you first get involved?
What was your first involvement with the Emerald Society?
Speaker 4 (06:08):
So I guess, uh, that's a that's a trick question,
I guess because it's it's really it's not all about Emerald,
it's about our culture and our faith.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Right.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
So being Brooklyn, right, Brooklyn, New York born and raised,
I went to Catholic school, you know, I attended Saint
Mark's in chief, said bay I, you know, it's something
that I've had since I was a child. Right, and
then and then I'm able to be employed by a
company that is able to have an Emerald Society an
(06:42):
an employer like this, just like other blue collar, green
collar companies that have an Emerald Society that have membership
of Irish and Irish American descent. That's that's what the
Emerald Society was all about. It's Irish and Irish American
descent that work inside those companies. So it was second
nature really coming to a place that had those type
(07:04):
of employees, people with similar interest, like minded people, and
then the rest was history.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
I'm speaking with James O'Leary of the Emerald Society of
con Edison and Donna McGuire of the Emerald Society the
New York City Department of Education, and of course tomorrow
is Saint Patrick's Say. Have either of you attended any
of the other Saint Patrick's Day parades around the country
or around the world.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (07:33):
In fact, I was an aide to the Brooklyn Parade
in twenty twenty three, and another exhilarating experience, says, we
march up and down the streets of Brooklyn and really
parades start sometimes at the end of February and they
go until the beginning of April, and.
Speaker 5 (07:52):
There's about thirty parades.
Speaker 6 (07:55):
You can hit a parade two or three times in
a weekend all through March, which is lovely.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
How about you, James, what parades have you attended over
the years.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
Yeah, so similar similar to Donna. It's you got to remember.
March seventeenth is usually a day that most of us
around here affiliate with New York City. But I have
been out to Chicago for their parade. Beautiful, right, I
mean every large city that has those large organizations that
(08:29):
have an Emerald Society, they would be really densely packed
with those Irish individuals and having those parades. Savannah, Boston,
they would, and they really go all out with their parades.
But like Donna said, in the month of March, every
single weekend is a different parade and a different municipality
and a different location.
Speaker 6 (08:50):
I just want to work playing out also that the
Grand Council fired the police. They have the marching bands,
and they're busy, Shelley, because they're hitting up all around
the metro area and they travel far and wide with pride,
just as they did two hundred and sixty four years ago.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Have either of you attended the Dublin Saint Patrick's Day Parade?
Speaker 5 (09:15):
No, I can't say that.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
I have because you know, so many people rely on
me here, but one day I hope, I hope.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
You know, it's really a different atmosphere because Jim and
I have been privileged to be able to celebrate several
years in Dublin. First of all, the night before it's
almost like prom night. Everybody goes out, they dress up
in their finest and they go to clubs and the
(09:44):
other thing that I remember, the Saint Patrick's Day parade
in Dublin just had a different feel from the parade here.
It was much smaller. It's really really family centered and
the our stay open like forever, like they don't seem
(10:05):
to close on Saint Patrick's Day in Dublin.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Yeah, it's not as boisterous.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
It's different atmosphere over there. It's more like a ticker
tape parade. They have floats here. It's celebrating our culture,
right and it's an Irish American theme right to the
parade when it originally when it first happened in those
(10:33):
early days in the eighteenth century. We're talking Irish regulars
in the British Army who weren't allowed to march, they
weren't allowed to organize and and they weren't allowed to
be Irish, right, so they took it upon themselves to
celebrate their their feast day of their patron saint on
that day. Really just to be out there and then
(10:54):
let people know that it's that's what it needs to
be Irish.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
What are your favorite Irish foods? Both of you?
Speaker 6 (11:01):
Well, I started off the morning with coffee and Irish
soda bread, but not typical Irish soda bread.
Speaker 5 (11:07):
They kind of getting shop right with the blueberries in it.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Blueberries, you know, the caraway. I don't know.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
That's all for me, Shelley. Everyone has a favorite, Okay,
how about you, James?
Speaker 4 (11:20):
I love a very typical shepherd's pie. Okay, Shepherd's pie
delicious with the original lamb. It's I could eat it
all day.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
All night. Can you make it?
Speaker 5 (11:33):
No? No I am.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
I am not a chef. Okay?
Speaker 2 (11:36):
So where do we find the best Shepherd's pie in
New York? What are your favorite places?
Speaker 6 (11:43):
Oh, Fitzpatrick and Monaghan and Queen's. We've had plenty of
Sunday sessions. We call it out there with the Emerald Society.
If you're up in Pearl River, there's my gosh, Marty's.
(12:05):
If I think there's a famous one out in montak
isn't there, James.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
So I'm gonna have to abstain on answering that because
if I say one and don't mention the other, well
they will.
Speaker 5 (12:18):
Come after me. Okay, oh, you're right.
Speaker 6 (12:20):
I should have said they're all wonderful, thank you, James, wonderful.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
They're all wonderful.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
So the Saint Patrick's Day Parade in New York City,
isn't that just the biggest parade there is in the
country all year?
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Right, I mean that is really remarkable.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Think of all of the parades in New York City
that we have, and think of all the parades across
the country and the biggest one, So that means it's
the biggest one in the world all year.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
Probably I'd like to believe that. Again, I will abstain,
but yeah, you would like to believe that. And you
got to to all the listeners. You really have to
understand it's not supposed to be a like a Marti
Gras event. Okay, we are out there even though we're
at work every single day doing our jobs on our
(13:16):
normal roles. The Saint Patrick's Day Parade is to celebrate
our culture, celebrate the feast day of Saint Patrick, our patron,
Saint Saint Bridget our.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
Other Saint of Ireland.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
That's what it's all about. It's it's to celebrate what
we believe in our faith, okay, And there's a lot
of great things that happen on that day. And when
we go out there, this banner, if you could see it,
just like all the other Emerald Societies, that banner is
original from the sixties.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Okay, it's been handing down from from person to person
year after year. And all the other Emerald Societies if
you look at them, they're very similar. Okay, they're all
very similar design. You know, they probably got them at
the same store, you know. Yes, that's why we're out there.
We're out there to celebrate our beliefs, our culture, and
we want everybody to know and be proud.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
How does one get to march in the New York
City Saint Patrick's Day Parade, Because.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
That's an honor. I mean there are a million.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
People at least who are, you know, watching from the sidelines.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
But then there are the honor who get to march.
Speaker 6 (14:28):
There is a committee and the committee the Mayor's office
decides and they decide about They decide on the Grand
Marshal and then there's aids. There's about ten aids. Typically
they will decide on half of them and the other
half are selected by different Irish organizations like the AOH
(14:51):
or the Grand Council.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
This year we have John Samuelson. We're very proud.
Speaker 6 (14:56):
We had all the Emeralds in Grand Household decide and
who to put up and this year it's John Samuelson
from the Transit Emerald Society. And it's a very big
honor to be an aid or a Grand Marshall. And
usually for the other parades in the metro area, they
(15:19):
will select on different categories. So when I'm marched in Brooklyn,
I was representing the category of education, and there could
be one on sports or art and culture.
Speaker 5 (15:30):
So they do it different ways, but that is how
they do it in New York City.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Okay, we are out of time.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
I hope to see you tomorrow at our big Irish
breakfast at Connelly's and Happy pre Saint Patrick's Day to you.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
You've been listening to Sunstein sessions on iHeartRadio. The production
of New York's classic rock Q one oh four point
three
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, conversations about issues that matter.
Here's your host, three time Grasie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Tomorrow is Saint Patrick's Day, and of course we will
be at Connolly's and we hope you will be joining us.
And that's the Connolly's that is closest to Madison Avenue,
but it's just steps away from the start of the
Saint Patrick's Day parade.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
And we have.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Been celebrating Saint Patrick's Day with you on Q one
oh four point three.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Jim and me. Well, I think this.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Will be the twenty third year, twenty second or twenty thirty.
I mean yeah, if we're not in Ireland, then we're
with you at Connolly. So joining me this morning James O'Leary.
Now I have known James by text only for the
last five years. James O'Leary of the Emerald Society of
(00:58):
con Edison has joined our early morning shout outs.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
It's called Shelley Shoutouts.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
If you're not up around five point thirty in the morning,
you probably aren't even aware of this, but we started
it during the pandemic really as a shout out and
a heads up and a thank you to the essential
workers who were still still on their way to work,
you know, while the rest of us were shut down
with COVID. So we started this Shelley shout out at
(01:25):
five point forty in the morning, and then we have
continued this early morning tradition. And so I feel that
I know all of our early morning texters and I
talk back to them on the text, but I don't
have the pleasure of meeting them, usually in person or
on zoom. So it's so nice putting a face to
the name James O'Leary and also joining us Don A
(01:46):
McGuire of the New York City Department of Education Emerald Society.
So happy free Saint Patrick's day to both of you,
and thank you for joining me and James.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Tell us about the Emerald Society. What is it you do?
Speaker 4 (02:04):
So, yes, good morning, Uh, the our Emeralds, well, all
of the Emerald Societies. We represent the the Irish and
Irish American individuals, employees who primarily work in the blue
collar world in the New York City and you know
nationwide really right, but there I say blue collar. We
(02:26):
like to consider ourselves green collar, yes, especially in the
month of March. But yeah, we represent the uh, the
the employees that day in and day out keep our
city and our country in power, in lights and educated, right, safe,
(02:47):
law enforcement, fire. We represent all those employees that and
personnel that keep these cities running and operating safely.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Was con ed one of the first Emerald societies because
that dates back to nineteen sixty two, I saw.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
Right, So.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
We're not the first.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
The first actually happened to be the NYPD New York
Police Department Emerald Society when they first originate organized, I
want to say in the mid to late fifties, Is
that correct, Donna.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
Yes, in the fifties.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
Two years later Shelley followed up with the ny Correctional Department,
and two years after the New York Fire Department in
nineteen fifty six, And Shelle, you mentioned the essential workers
and you shout out to them, Well, the Grand Council
has organized the green collar essential workers back in the fifties,
(03:43):
where across the country they developed on city, state, and
federal levels. Grand Council through the number of sixty five
thousand members, and then there was a Grand Council of Police.
So what they did was they merged and reorganized in
(04:04):
nineteen seventy five, and here we are today. We have
Emerald Societies members in Arizona, California, Upstate and really around
the country and which is amazing.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
So what sort of work do you do the rest
of the year when you're not marching in the Saint
Patrick's Day Parade? And of course, the New York City
Saint Patrick's Day Parade is the biggest one in the world.
Speaker 5 (04:28):
Oh yes, it's the biggest and oldest.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Right, which is kind of weird because you would have
thought that Ireland would be doing it before New York City, right.
Speaker 6 (04:41):
Well, one of the reasons why, Shelley, that it started
fourteen years before the US became a country is because
the Irish immigrants were so homesick and they stick together,
and they were building, and they were like cogs in
the wheel creating the infrastructure of our city. And it
was their way of marching and showing solidarity and just
(05:07):
banning together to show pride because you know, there was
oppression back then and they all and they wanted to
show who they were and marched loud and proud. And
that's why two hundred and sixty four years later, we're
still doing that, and.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
So what was the year? What year did it start? Here?
Speaker 5 (05:26):
In March seventeenth, seventeen sixty two.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Wow, that's just unbelievable, isn't it.
Speaker 6 (05:32):
Yes, And this is Irish American Howritage month. And when
we are not celebrating our green in March, the Emeralds
are proudly doing meet and greets, We're doing zooms, book clubs,
We're raising money, We're doing scholarship dinner dances, we attend
Irish related organizations and associations, and we support in New
(05:56):
York City and throughout the country.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
So, James, tell me, how did you first get involved?
What was your first involvement with the Emerald Society?
Speaker 4 (06:08):
So I guess, uh, that's a that's a trick question,
I guess because it's it's really it's not all about Emerald,
it's about our culture and our faith.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Right.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
So being Brooklyn, right, Brooklyn, New York born and raised,
I went to Catholic school, you know, I attended Saint
Mark's in chief, said bay I, you know, it's something
that I've had since I was a child. Right, and
then and then I'm able to be employed by a
company that is able to have an Emerald Society an
(06:42):
an employer like this, just like other blue collar, green
collar companies that have an Emerald Society that have membership
of Irish and Irish American descent. That's that's what the
Emerald Society was all about. It's Irish and Irish American
descent that work inside those companies. So it was second
nature really coming to a place that had those type
(07:04):
of employees, people with similar interest, like minded people, and
then the rest was history.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
I'm speaking with James O'Leary of the Emerald Society of
con Edison and Donna McGuire of the Emerald Society the
New York City Department of Education, and of course tomorrow
is Saint Patrick's Say. Have either of you attended any
of the other Saint Patrick's Day parades around the country
or around the world.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (07:33):
In fact, I was an aide to the Brooklyn Parade
in twenty twenty three, and another exhilarating experience, says, we
march up and down the streets of Brooklyn and really
parades start sometimes at the end of February and they
go until the beginning of April, and.
Speaker 5 (07:52):
There's about thirty parades.
Speaker 6 (07:55):
You can hit a parade two or three times in
a weekend all through March, which is lovely.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
How about you, James, what parades have you attended over
the years.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
Yeah, so similar similar to Donna. It's you got to remember.
March seventeenth is usually a day that most of us
around here affiliate with New York City. But I have
been out to Chicago for their parade. Beautiful, right, I
mean every large city that has those large organizations that
(08:29):
have an Emerald Society, they would be really densely packed
with those Irish individuals and having those parades. Savannah, Boston,
they would, and they really go all out with their parades.
But like Donna said, in the month of March, every
single weekend is a different parade and a different municipality
and a different location.
Speaker 6 (08:50):
I just want to work playing out also that the
Grand Council fired the police. They have the marching bands,
and they're busy, Shelley, because they're hitting up all around
the metro area and they travel far and wide with pride,
just as they did two hundred and sixty four years ago.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Have either of you attended the Dublin Saint Patrick's Day Parade?
Speaker 5 (09:15):
No, I can't say that.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
I have because you know, so many people rely on
me here, but one day I hope, I hope.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
You know, it's really a different atmosphere because Jim and
I have been privileged to be able to celebrate several
years in Dublin. First of all, the night before it's
almost like prom night. Everybody goes out, they dress up
in their finest and they go to clubs and the
(09:44):
other thing that I remember, the Saint Patrick's Day parade
in Dublin just had a different feel from the parade here.
It was much smaller. It's really really family centered and
the our stay open like forever, like they don't seem
(10:05):
to close on Saint Patrick's Day in Dublin.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Yeah, it's not as boisterous.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
It's different atmosphere over there. It's more like a ticker
tape parade. They have floats here. It's celebrating our culture,
right and it's an Irish American theme right to the
parade when it originally when it first happened in those
(10:33):
early days in the eighteenth century. We're talking Irish regulars
in the British Army who weren't allowed to march, they
weren't allowed to organize and and they weren't allowed to
be Irish, right, so they took it upon themselves to
celebrate their their feast day of their patron saint on
that day. Really just to be out there and then
(10:54):
let people know that it's that's what it needs to
be Irish.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
What are your favorite Irish foods? Both of you?
Speaker 6 (11:01):
Well, I started off the morning with coffee and Irish
soda bread, but not typical Irish soda bread.
Speaker 5 (11:07):
They kind of getting shop right with the blueberries in it.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Blueberries, you know, the caraway. I don't know.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
That's all for me, Shelley. Everyone has a favorite, Okay,
how about you, James?
Speaker 4 (11:20):
I love a very typical shepherd's pie. Okay, Shepherd's pie
delicious with the original lamb. It's I could eat it
all day.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
All night. Can you make it?
Speaker 5 (11:33):
No? No I am.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
I am not a chef. Okay?
Speaker 2 (11:36):
So where do we find the best Shepherd's pie in
New York? What are your favorite places?
Speaker 6 (11:43):
Oh, Fitzpatrick and Monaghan and Queen's. We've had plenty of
Sunday sessions. We call it out there with the Emerald Society.
If you're up in Pearl River, there's my gosh, Marty's.
(12:05):
If I think there's a famous one out in montak
isn't there, James.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
So I'm gonna have to abstain on answering that because
if I say one and don't mention the other, well
they will.
Speaker 5 (12:18):
Come after me. Okay, oh, you're right.
Speaker 6 (12:20):
I should have said they're all wonderful, thank you, James, wonderful.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
They're all wonderful.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
So the Saint Patrick's Day Parade in New York City,
isn't that just the biggest parade there is in the
country all year?
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Right, I mean that is really remarkable.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Think of all of the parades in New York City
that we have, and think of all the parades across
the country and the biggest one, So that means it's
the biggest one in the world all year.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
Probably I'd like to believe that. Again, I will abstain,
but yeah, you would like to believe that. And you
got to to all the listeners. You really have to
understand it's not supposed to be a like a Marti
Gras event. Okay, we are out there even though we're
at work every single day doing our jobs on our
(13:16):
normal roles. The Saint Patrick's Day Parade is to celebrate
our culture, celebrate the feast day of Saint Patrick, our patron,
Saint Saint Bridget our.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
Other Saint of Ireland.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
That's what it's all about. It's it's to celebrate what
we believe in our faith, okay, And there's a lot
of great things that happen on that day. And when
we go out there, this banner, if you could see it,
just like all the other Emerald Societies, that banner is
original from the sixties.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Okay, it's been handing down from from person to person
year after year. And all the other Emerald Societies if
you look at them, they're very similar. Okay, they're all
very similar design. You know, they probably got them at
the same store, you know. Yes, that's why we're out there.
We're out there to celebrate our beliefs, our culture, and
we want everybody to know and be proud.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
How does one get to march in the New York
City Saint Patrick's Day Parade, Because.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
That's an honor. I mean there are a million.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
People at least who are, you know, watching from the sidelines.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
But then there are the honor who get to march.
Speaker 6 (14:28):
There is a committee and the committee the Mayor's office
decides and they decide about They decide on the Grand
Marshal and then there's aids. There's about ten aids. Typically
they will decide on half of them and the other
half are selected by different Irish organizations like the AOH
(14:51):
or the Grand Council.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
This year we have John Samuelson. We're very proud.
Speaker 6 (14:56):
We had all the Emeralds in Grand Household decide and
who to put up and this year it's John Samuelson
from the Transit Emerald Society. And it's a very big
honor to be an aid or a Grand Marshall. And
usually for the other parades in the metro area, they
(15:19):
will select on different categories. So when I'm marched in Brooklyn,
I was representing the category of education, and there could
be one on sports or art and culture.
Speaker 5 (15:30):
So they do it different ways, but that is how
they do it in New York City.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Okay, we are out of time.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
I hope to see you tomorrow at our big Irish
breakfast at Connelly's and Happy pre Saint Patrick's Day to you.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
You've been listening to Sunstein sessions on iHeartRadio. The production
of New York's classic rock Q one oh four point
three
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