Kathy McGee Burns, making her debut as president of the St. Patrick's Day Observance Association, presents a plaque to outgoing president Mike Callahan.
Sunday, March 13, may seem like a long way off, but for the organizers of the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade, it’s right around the corner. And that means the fund-raising is about to begin in earnest.
It’s going to cost $70,000 to put the parade on the street, said parade director Michael Bradley at the Thursday night meeting of the St. Patrick’s Day Observance Association. A group called the Greater Philadelphia Traditions Fund, with Congressman Bob Brady as the driving force, contributed $200,000 in October to help defray the city-related costs of Philadelphia’s ethnic parades, with another $100,000 pledged for this month. But that still leaves many other expenses that need to be covered—everything from transportation costs to port-a-potties.
The money earned through fund-raising will start to roll in “fast and furious” in the six weeks before the parade, Bradley said afterward, but it’s still an ambitious goal. “Everybody pitches in and helps, but it’s a stressful six weeks.”
Year-round fund-raising might help, but then it creates competition for the fund-raising efforts of other, sometimes smaller, Delaware Valley Irish organizations. “We want to get away from smaller events where we’re cannibalizing other organizations’ events,” he said. “We want to make sure other organizations make their money, too. Without them, we don’t have a parade.”
There is a golf outing in the fall, but aside from that virtually all of the major fund-raising occurs over the next several weeks leading up to the parade. One major fund-raiser is a big bash at the Springfield (Delco) Country Club on March 6 (from 3 to 7 p.m.), featuring Blackthorn. Several other fund-raising parties are in the works, including one in the Northeast, sponsored by the Ancient Order of Hibernians County Board and Division 39, with the date pending; a second on Saturday, February 26, from 8 to midnight, at the Second Street Irish Society, 1937 South 3rd St. in Philadelphia, and a third (date yet to be decided) at Kildare’s in Manayunk.
In addition to that, the parade committee raffles off a trip to Ireland, another good income source.
Kathy McGee Burns, who made her debut as president of the board, emphasized the importance of all these activities and noted that they have an important side benefit: they strengthens relationships.
“Number one, they help to raise the money so we can produce a first-class parade in the city,” she said, “but number two, we get to meet all the Irish organizations that we may not really know until we get to spend some time with them. And it’s really fun.”
The upcoming Second Street fund-raiser is a good example of that, she said. “It’s a great organization, and they’ve been around a long time,” she noted. “We welcome those associations and organizations. They’re what will make the parade go on forever.”
