The Sons of Erin’s firetruck float is almost ready to go for Sunday’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Holyoke (Photo by Jayne Mulligan)
WESTFIELD – It’s a magical time of year for the great many Americans whose family lineage traces back to Ireland, who look forward to St. Patrick’s Day every year with eager anticipation — for time spent with family and in church, at the pub for a stout, and around the dinner table for some cornbeef and cabbage.
In the City of Westfield, proud Irish Americans like Jayne Mulligan are ready to go to the legendary St. Patrick’s Day Parade next Sunday in Holyoke, long the second largest St. Paddy’s Day parade in America, after New York City.
Sarah O’Neil & Jillian Conroy attach decorative petal paper (Photo by Jayne Mulligan)
“This is the 33rd year we’ve done the Colleen,” said the former city employee and longtime Sons Of Erin member. “But I think this is our 34th or 35th year of marching, and I believe the Holyoke Parade had it’s 60th running a couple years ago.”
This year’s event will be a special one for Mulligan as this year’s float will the club’s tribute to the rich history of Irish firefighters throughout western Mass. and beyond.
“Half the fire departments in Massachusetts are probably made up of Irishmen,” she said with a chuckle while assembling the float Friday in the warehouse of the Westfield Gas and Electric headquarters, the float-builders’ ‘home away from home’. “But every year, our float focuses on Irish culture, and over the years we’ve done more cartoonish floats. But this year, we’re combining a little old with a little new.”
The float, which sits 28-feet tall by 14-feet wide, will suspend Paige Templeton, this year’s Colleen, and her court, 12 feet in the air, and is set to combine the looks of both retro and more modern firetrucks, complete with a ladder adorned by a leprechaun holding a firehose with blue and white streamers shooting out.
Mark Hanrahan & Maryalyce Morrissey put decorative touches onto the Sons of Erin’s 2014 Holyoke St. Patrick’s Day Parade float. (Photo by Jayne Mulligan)
“We wanted to shoot out confetti, but parade rules prohibit it,” Mulligan said with a sheepish grin before stating that the entire float will probably cost the club maybe $5,000 to construct when all is said and done. “It’s all totally built by the Sons of Erin. This is the first time in about 25 years that we’ve rewelded and put a new deck on the float.”
The firetruck’s intricate details haven’t been lost on the float’s builders, who have been loaned the bell used by the Westfield Fire Department in the city’s annual September 11 ceremony.
“We had three people from Westfield killed in 9/11, so the Sons does a big 9/11 ceremony every year- it’s a nice touch to be able to use their bell,” Mulligan said of the Westfield Fire Department. “I believe we were trying to get it arranged so that the Fire Department marches behind us this year. Normally they’re up front with the Westfield politicians, but hopefully they’re going to march with us and the fire truck.”
The committee has even taken the time to create gauges for the float’s fuel, oil, and water pressure, along with gauges for Guinness and Shepherd’s Pie, and a level for Blarney, which ranges from empty to “excruciating.”
Mulligan was aided Friday by fellow Sons of Erin members Lynda Cavanaugh and Maryalyce Morrissey, two of the veterans who lend a hand with their float-building process.
“It’s been seventeen joyous years,” Cavanaugh said of her time building. “It’s been fun. There’s new friends each year, people who help and want to get involved. Our club supports us, pushes us all the way.”
Cavanaugh was sure to add that the goal which every float committee shoots for is a simple token to commemorate the top float.
“But the best thing is getting that cardboard ribbon,” she said enthusiastically of the grand prize. “And bragging rights… which last a whole year till the next float.”
“We’ve won a lot of grand prizes,” Mulligan concurred. “In 30 years, I think we’ve won eight. Numerous first prizes, a couple of best Colleens…”
The float will be completed this week, and will pull out of the G&E warehouse at 6:15 a.m. next Sunday to make the trek to Holyoke.
“We have a little bit of work to do when we get there, about a half hour or so, and the Colleens have to be on it to be judged at 8:00,” said Mulligan. “And after that we wait. It’s a very long day.”
The love for the Emerald Isle is what helps Westfield’s Irish elite get through the day in the Paper City.
“It brings a lot of the Irish in our community and our club together,” Morrissey said. “Not only do we have the float committee, but also the parade committee that organizes everyone in the Westfield contingent, and we have the Colleen committee which puts on a grandiose gala at the Chez Josef to choose our Colleen.”
The three women added that the Colleen’s are all representative of the communities in the greater Westfield area, and that the entire float-building effort requires a clannish dedication.
“There’s a lot of work that goes into the float, from the design phase before Christmas — we start right after Christmas — normally every Saturday with the full crew and then towards the end to prep for the parade,” Morrissey said.
Mulligan said that Westfield’s contingent is generally one of the bigger floats.
“The Holyoke Colleen is usually pretty big, West Springfield and Chicopee are about the same size,” she said. “Some of them are really small and cute. You’ve got people like us who’ve been doing it for 33 years, and you’ve got people who this is their first time. And we were there once, too.”
What excites Mulligan and her crew most about this annual rite is the initiation of younger helpers each year.
“We’ve got some young kids and teenagers that work on it, too,” she said, adding that about a dozen folks have contributed to the building of this year’s float. “Because of the way it’s built, you can’t have two or three people come this week, and two or three people come next week, because theres no continuity.”
“Everybody that is part of the committee is here every Saturday, and a couple hours here and there,” Mulligan said. “It’s a huge commitment. We work hard but we play hard, too. It’s one big family.”
