Share this on

Executive Director Bill McCarthy to Serve as Honorary Grand Marshal of St. Patrick Parade

March 4, 2010

On March 14, Catholic Charities Executive Director, Bill McCarthy, will serve as the Honorary Grand Marshal of Baltimore’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Bill has fond memories of attending the St. Patrick’ Day Parade as a child with his father and two sisters.

He and his wife Maria continued the St. Patrick’s Day Parade tradition, attending the annual event with their children Erinn and Ryan. Over the years, Bill has marched in the parade with the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick and the Hibernians, where he was joined by his son Ryan. Two years ago, Bill and Ryan rode in the Parade in friend Frank Bramble’s 1959 Thunderbird. In last year’s parade, Bill and Ryan proudly carried the Official St. Patrick’s Banner. Bill describes the St. Patrick’s Day Parade as “something we just love and hold as a family tradition ourselves.” This year in special tribute to his Irish heritage, he will be using a walking stick belonging to his grandfather, Bernard Berry. It was crafted in Ireland of rosewood.

The parade begins at 2:00 p.m. at the Mt. Vernon monument on North Charles Street and continues south on Charles Street down to Pratt where it turns left. For more than 50 years, thousands of spectators from the region have crowded the streets and sidewalks of downtown Baltimore and the Inner Harbor to watch thousands march and celebrate Irish culture, music, song, and dance.