Cutchogue St. Patrick’s Day Parade marks 20 years, with past grand marshals leading the march
To celebrate the 20th annual Cutchogue St. Patrick’s Day Parade, the North Fork Chamber of Commerce and Cutchogue Fire Department will welcome back grand marshals of years past to lead the march.
The 2026 parade, set to step off from Cox Lane in Cutchogue at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 14, will feature 14 previous grand marshals to highlight the milestone procession.
The reunion of past grand marshals was the brainchild of a chamber member. Parade organizer Joe Corso thought it was a “great idea.”
“Considering it was our 20th year, I said we really need to do something a little bit different than what we’d been doing in the past,” Mr. Corso said.
David Gamberg, former superintendent of both Greenport and Southold school districts, was grand marshal in 2022 and will be among the 14 dignitaries returning for this year’s parade — held every year since 2005 except during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
“It just is such a wonderful event, it speaks so much about Cutchogue, Southold, the North Fork — it’s truly a special day,” Mr. Gamberg told The Suffolk Times.
The old-timer’s day roster of grand marshals also includes Elaine McDuffy (2006), Tom Roslak (2007), Phyllis Noncarrow (2008) and Paula Thorpe (2011). They will be joined by 2013 grand marshals Carol Scott and Joan Tyrer, Evie Glover and Alan Glover (2014), Paul Connor (2018), Jim Fogarty Sr. (2019) and Paul Drum (2024). Mr. Corso and his wife, Helen, were grand marshals last year and will be stepping off again.
The family of the late owner of Touch of Venice, Ettore Pennachia, a grand marshal in 2015, will also march in his honor.
The 2009 grand marshal, former Southold Town commissioner of public works Jim McMahon, died last March. Former Southold Town tax receiver George Sullivan, a Vietnam War veteran who was grand marshal in 2017, passed away in 2020.
“Who ever thought we’d make it 20 years doing this parade, you know?” Mr. Corso mused. “When we first started the first parade, we didn’t even know if people were gonna show up.”
Fellow organizer Paul Romanelli has helped Mr. Corso pull off the parade since 2005 and joked about how the celebration of everything Irish has been put together by locals with Italian roots for years.
“We originally were going to try and do a Columbus Day fair, and we were late in planning it so we said, ‘Why don’t we do a Saint Patrick’s Day Parade and see how that works out,’” Mr. Romanelli told The Suffolk Times. “And that worked out so successfully, especially that first year. We were shocked at how many people participated and showed up.”
The parade has only grown since its inception, when most marchers were members of local fire departments. Mr. Corso said the number of community groups taking part this year has doubled — to 40 from 20 — since the first parade stepped off in 2005.
Among those marching this year will be the Mattituck High School marching band, Peconic Community School, North Fork Animal Welfare League, local Girl Scouts, dance groups, local politicians and other community members.
“Basically whoever wants to get involved, we put them in,” Mr. Corso said.
As the unofficial “harbinger of spring,” the parade serves as a kickoff to warmer days on the North Fork, Mr. Gamberg noted.
“It just really brings a wide spectrum of residents in the community out together,” he said.
For more information about the parade, visit northforkchamber.org.
