Norwalk police officer to serve as grand marshal of St. Patrick’s Day Parade
NORWALK — The grand marshal for next month’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be a co-founder of the Norwalk Police Emerald Society.
The parade, which will take place Saturday, March 11, will be led by Norwalker Brendan Collins, according to a police statement. Marchers will step off at 11 a.m. from Veterans Memorial Park. A ceremony at O’Neill’s Irish Pub & Restaurant on North Main Street will follow the parade.
Collins is a co-founder of the Emerald Society, which he helped establish in 2015, according to the statement. The Norwalk Police Emerald Society is a nonprofit organization established for active and retired police, firefighters, paramedics and members of dispatch to preserve and promote Irish heritage and culture.
“The organization serves to develop a spirit of camaraderie and fellowship and to encourage a fuller participation in the activities of organizations for the good and welfare of the relationship between police and communities,” the statement said.
In 2016, Collins and the Norwalk Police Emerald Society sponsored the city’s first St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Collins marched with the Fairfield County Police Pipes and Drums, alongside the Hartford Police Emerald Society, and has a lasting relationship with members of the Garda Siochana, the national police service of Ireland that is known as the Guards, according to the statement.
He traces his Irish lineage from his father’s side. His great-grandfather, Patrick Finn Collins, was born in Spaddagh, County Mayo, Ireland. His father’s grandmother was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. Her parents were Patrick McCrickard of Moneyscalp, County Down, and Sarah Starkey, of Tyrella, County Down, Northern Ireland.
A Norwalk native, Collins attended Fox Run Elementary School and Ponus Ridge Middle School and graduated from Brien McMahon High School in 2003, according to the statement.
Collins graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2007, with degrees in criminal justice and public administration, according to the statement. Upon graduation, he returned to the city and immediately began a career in law enforcement as an office with the Norwalk Police Department.
The parade will feature the Fairfield County Police Pipes and Drums and the Greenwich Pipe Band along with bands, first responders and city officials. From Veterans Memorial Park, it will proceed up Washington Street and onto North Main Street, then end at Pine Street.