Easthampton

CONTINUES FROM PAGE E8 organizations including the Greater Easthampton Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Emily’s Friends of the Emily Williston Library, school committee members, representatives of the police and fire departments, the Agawam High School band/ color guard and the Agawam High School cheerleaders.

Also included this year are award recipients: Vera A. Conway Citizenship Award winner Brian Burbank and Anne Sullivan Award winner Donna Burke.

The parade brings together the Agawam community because it allows city residents “to showcase Agawam pride and their Irish heritage,” said Reed, who is working with a committee of 13 members.

And it is important to continue to celebrate all things Irish via the St. Patrick’s Parade “to continue the tradition started by the Agawam

Fenton; John and Agnes Burke Award, Eamonn Burke and Michael Ireland; Paul G. Caron Award, Siobhan Cullen; Mary B. Troy Appreciation Award, Nathan Bill’s Bar and Restaurant; Springfield colleen, Caitlyn Feeley; Springfield colleen court, Kiley McQuade Arsenault, Ayden-Maeve Bradley, Meghan Curley and Norah Doyle; Irish Elk of the year, Michael Joseph Fitzgerald; John Boyle O’Reilly Club person of the year, Susan Forys; and John Boyle O’Reilly Club volunteer of the year, Steve Bennet.

The theme of the Springfield float “Books are worth their weight in gold.” It is a tribute to Irish authors. Students in

Committee’s founders 23 years ago and honoring their memory,” he added.

Irish pride is evident in Agawam as shown by the local business involvement and the “wonderful turnouts and participation of our residents at our fundraising events,” said Reed, who has been part of the parade since his wife volunteered him to help build a float nine years ago.

But he remembers watching the parade throughout his youth from his Aunt Helen Griffin’s second-floor apartment on Chestnut Street across from the Victory Theater. He still enjoys watching the joy in the faces of the colleen and her court as they ride in the parade with the crowds cheering them on. Reed is hoping this St. Patrick’s Parade day is marked by great weather with “lots of smiling faces along the parade route.” the carpentry shop at Putnam Vocational High School in Springfield, under the direction of teacher David Stevens, are building the float. “Their float will be the focal point of our contingent. I hope their families and friends line the streets of Holyoke to see the hard work these scholars and craftsmen put into such a magnificent work of art,” Sullivan said.

For more information about the Agawam contingent, go to the Agawam St. Patrick’s Committee page on Facebook.

The John Boyle O’Reilly Club will have a float, which usually includes live music. Elks Lodge 61 of Springfield will have a float and “will be looking to outdo their grand prize-winning float of last year,” she said.

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Dollars for Scholars, the Greater Easthampton St. Patrick’s Committee and is the representative on the Holyoke St. Patrick’s Parade Committee.

“We are all very excited to take part in this year’s parade and other activities sponsored by the Holyoke Parade Committee,” Graney said. “There is an air of excitement to just be back to normal.”

Throughout the year committee members plan to sponsor different activities to highlight Irish culture.

20, a student at Holyoke Community College; and Ava Lapa, 17, a student at Chicopee Comprehensive High School.

Long-time city resident and Councilor-at-Large Gerard (Jerry) Roy has been selected as the 2023 Chicopee Parade Marshal. Kathy Sliwa, an active member of the parade committee since 2010, is this year’s Woods Award recipient. The Atkinson Award winner is Rob Pion, a third-generation business owner for Bob Pion Buick GMC.

The St. Patrick’s Parade Committee of Chicopee will have a float with a Celtic Mythology theme.

Denise Noble, committee president, will be marching with her family near the head of the contingent that also