PHOTO ESSAY BY DONNA ACETO | Just a few days after late winter snow hobbled New York, a bright sunny day greeted the marchers and enthusiastic crowds that turned out for the March 17 St. Patrick’s Day Parade. In a route that runs up Fifth Avenue from 44th Street to 79th Street, Emerald Society Pipes and Drums corps from both the police and fire departments, elected officials including Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, countless high school and college marching bands, groups representing each of Ireland’s counties, labor and fraternal groups, and equestrian teams celebrated Irish pride.
For the second year in a row, an Irish LGBTQ group, the Lavender & Green Alliance, was able to participate. And in a sign of how quickly things can change — even after a protracted battle that lasted a quarter of a century — Tarlach MacNiallais, a longtime member of the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization that began the fight to get into the parade, was part of this year’s formation committee. MacNiallais marched with his husband, Juan Nepomuceno.
