By Peter Lyons Hall
As elected officials gathered in the parking lot at the Mt. Alverno adult home community, several Irish groups prepared to march down the Village of Warwick’s Main Street during the 2025 St. Patrick’s Day Parade for the Town of Warwick, NY.
Leading the parade was Town Supervisor Jesse Dwyer, accompanied by Village of Warwick Mayor, Michael Newhard, and Orange County Executive, Steve Neuhaus. They were followed by the inspiring Ancient Order of Hibernians’ Pipe Band Div. 1, Sheahan-Gormley School of Irish Dance, The Gaelic Cultural Society, Project Children, The Ladies Order of Hibernians, The Warwick Knights of Columbus, Troop 45 Boy Scouts, the Claddagh Pipe Band of Northern New Jersey, Warwick Valley VFW, Blue Star Mothers, Members of The Ramapough Munsee Lenape Nation, the Warwick Democratic Party Committee, Better Homes & Garden|Green Team Realty, Warwick Lions Club, Highlander Band from West Milford High School NJ, Town of Warwick Republican Committee, Warwick Volunteer Ambulance Corps and Fire Trucks.
During Project Children’s 40 years of the program, initiated by Greenwood Lake resident, Dennis Mulcahy, the organization has seen over 23,000 young Catholic and Protestant children travel to the US for a summer holiday respite from the everyday violence and conflict of their homeland. The program continues today as an intern program for young college students. The program is both cross-community and cross border, and endeavors to allow participants to immerse themselves in American culture by living and working in the US, beginning each summer with a week working together at Habitat for Humanity in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Orange County, New York, has one of the highest populations (19.3%) in the State of New York of residents who claim Irish heritage. The Irish immigrants who entered the United States from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries, together with their descendants have made an extraordinary impact on the United States in politics, industry, organized labor, religion, literature, music, and art. Mary Harris, for example, (later known as Mother Jones), was an activist who devoted her efforts to unionizing workers in various occupations throughout the country. Although her activities resulted in arrests, a great number of personal attacks, and many additional challenges, she obtained appointments with United States presidents from McKinley to Coolidge.
