NEW ROUTE FOR PARADE
‘Be Irish for a day’ this Sunday, marshal says
Elizabeth Quinn loves everything about Montreal’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, but what she loves best is that festive feeling, that sense that everyone is “Irish for a day.”
“If you walk along the parade route, it’s like the League of Nations on both sides,” Quinn told the Montreal Gazette. “All ethnic groups are there and they all wear green and they have their thumbs up, saying they are Irish for a day. We all have a good time and that’s what it’s all about.”
Quinn is the grand marshal of Montreal’s 195th St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which begins Sunday at noon on the corner of City-Councillors St. and de Maisonneuve Blvd. The route — altered this year to accommodate roadwork underway along Ste-Catherine St. — will follow de Maisonneuve Blvd. westward to Mackay St. and then south to René-Lévesque Blvd.
For the past 30 years, Quinn has been actively involved with the United Irish Societies (UIS), which has organized Montreal’s parade for the past 90 years. A committed community volunteer, Quinn first joined to participate as a singer in a UIS -sponsored group that entertains seniors in retirement homes. She loves to sing, particularly old Irish favourites.
A retired school teacher, Quinn became more and more involved, eventually being elected president of the organization in 2000 and 2001. She continues to sit on a number of its organizing committees. Still, Quinn said she was shocked to learn she had been nominated last October as grand marshal of the parade.
She is only the second woman to serve, following Margaret Healy back in 2005. But Quinn says she was surprised to be nominated, not because she is female, but because she is such an active member of the UIS. “Normally we don’t really give our own that honour . ... So when I was nominated, I was very shocked of course and dismayed. I kept saying, ‘Oh no, no, no. You have to pick someone else. This is crazy.’ But they said, ‘No you’ve been around a long time and you do a lot so we would like to honour you.’ So what could I say?
“Anyway, it’s a great honour for me because I’ve been a part of who they are for many, many years and there is nothing better than getting an award from your peers.”
Still, Quinn finds herself squinting a little uncomfortably in the limelight.
“I’m used to being in the background. I’m a backstage worker and I like it that way. But it is grand. The only thing is there are so many things to go to, you can’t imagine.”
Of course the busiest day of Quinn’s mandate will be this Sunday. She’ll be meeting with other parade organizers and dignitaries for breakfast at a downtown hotel, then heading off to the annual “Green Mass” at St. Patrick’s Basilica (454 René-Lévesque Blvd. W.) at 10 a.m. where the Archbishop of Montreal Reverend Christian Lépine will preside.
Then it’s off to the parade, where she hopes to wave to as many as 500,000 “Irish” Montrealers and tourists.
The parade this year will consist of about 20 floats, 25 marching bands and about 4,000 individuals.
Participants will include Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, local police and firefighters and various media personalities as well as members of the Black Watch Royal Highland Regiment of Canada Pipes and Drums, the Kahnawake Peacekeepers, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Band, Girl Guides and Boy Scouts organizations, and representatives from many of the city’s Irish pubs plus many more.
“The Irish love to celebrate. We love to dance and sing and party,” Quinn said. “It’s about sharing our culture and welcoming people to join us.”