HOLYOKE — Hundreds of thousands of people descended on Holyoke on a sunny but wind-chilled Sunday to either view or take part in the annual St. Patrick’s Parade, which began in 1952.

The parade is one of the largest of its kind held in the Northeastern United States to commemorate the Irish holiday, and an economic boon for vendors along its 2.65-mile route. For Holyoke, this year also marks the 150th anniversary of its incorporation as a city, further adding to the celebratory atmosphere.

“It’s an opportunity to celebrate pride in our community, and to celebrate western Massachusetts,” said Mayor Joshua Garcia. “There’s people renting hotels, eating at restaurants locally, so it’s definitely a huge boost for the economy, but also a huge boost in civic pride.”

Leading the marchers was a cavalcade of Massachusetts State Police vehicles, led by Lt. John Healy, a Holyoke native who has been in the parade for more than 40 years.

For Healy, who is retiring, this year’s parade will be his last.

“All of them were wonderful experiences,” Healy said of the parades he’s been in. “You see people you haven’t seen in a year, and it repeats year after year. It’s just a nice thing.”

Hampshire County was well represented in the parade, with delegations from Northampton, Easthampton, Amherst and South Hadley taking part. For Northampton, marchers in the parade included marshal Tony Ryan, City Councilors Jim Nash and Garrick Perry, Hampshire Superior Court Clerk Harry Jekanowski and Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra, whose birthday happens to fall on St. Patrick’s Day.

“It’s become part of a new tradition that I get to spend my birthday weekend doing,” said Sciarra, who has participated in the parade since she was a member of the City Council. “For me, it’s a celebratory remembrance of this deep tradition.”

The parade also holds special significance for Hampshire County Sheriff Patrick Cahillane, who was born in Ireland and moved to the United States when he was 10 years old. Cahillane marched in the parade as part of a delegation from the Hampshire County Sheriff’s Office.

“It’s about introducing the sheriff’s office to the community, but it also gives back because it’s rewarding when we get down here,” Cahillane said. “We see a lot of people that have come through our programs and they’re friendly, respectful and they’re living as citizens of the world.”

Jane Coughlin Chevalier, a South Hadley resident and a victim’s witness advocate at the Hampden district attorney’s office, served as the parade’s grand marshal. Lenny Jacobson, television actor and Holyoke native, was the recipient of the parade committee’s John F. Kennedy National Award. Abby Ross Glasheen, a student at Westfield State and a 2020 graduate of Holyoke High School, was named this year’s Grand Colleen.

Several state representatives who represent parts of Hampshire County, including Jake Olivieira and Dan Carey, also marched in the parade.

“The Holyoke St. Patrick’s Day parade has a long tradition, because it’s also one of the first parades that was all-inclusive, no matter your sexual orientation, gender … it was always welcoming,” Olivieira said. “It’s always nice to show pride in the patchwork of ethnicities that make up the United States.”

Carey marched with the same walking stick he used in the parade in 2015, when he was named marshal of the Easthampton delegation.

“I grew up in Easthampton coming to the parade,” he said. “My uncles and my parents were on the parade committee. My grandfather was a marshal and my mother was a marshal. It’s a really great way to connect with our Irish ancestors.”

Several prominent national and international politicians also took part in the parade. Behind the grand colleen’s float were Claire Cronin, the current U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, and Micheál Martin, the current Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) of Ireland, as well as the country’s minister of foreign affairs and minister of defense.

For these politicians, the parade was not just a chance to celebrate Irish heritages, but also to highlight current issues on the island, particularly in the wake of Brexit, which has threatened the open border between Ireland and the U.K.-controlled Northern Ireland, a potential setback of the Good Friday Agreement that ended decades of bloodshed in the region.

“I’m really delighted and honored to be representing the Irish government in the parade, and particularly to join with Congressman Neal,” Martin said. “He has been such a steadfast friend of Ireland for many years, particularly in recent years, in the context of protecting the Good Friday Agreement.”

Neal, who has long advocated for Irish causes in Congress, said that a return to a “hard border” between Ireland and Northern Ireland would threaten any prospective trade deal with the United Kingdom, something the British government has pushed for after leaving the European Union.

“We’re on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, and we are standing shoulder to shoulder with Ireland,” he said. “No return to a hard border. If there’s a return to a hard border, no trade deal.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.

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