By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Sea Isle City residents Florence and Archie Howser have long since passed away, but Mayor Leonard Desiderio still fondly remembers how the couple influenced the route of the town’s St. Patrick’s Day parade.
“It was a very small parade,” Desiderio recalled of its humble beginnings when he and his late brother, Gerard, started it in 1992. “We had an elderly couple who lived on 68th Street and they said, ‘Nothing ever comes down our way.’”
“My brother said to me, ‘Let’s bring the parade down to them and it will be a hoot,’” he continued.
Well, the Desiderio brothers did indeed have the parade pass by 68th Street in the south end of town to please the Howsers. As the colorful procession rolled down the street in front of their modest rancher, Florence and Archie watched the marchers and waved.
“They were so happy,” Desiderio said.
All these years later, Cape May County’s oldest St. Patrick’s Day parade continues to make many people happy. Thousands of spectators are expected to line the sidewalks when the 32nd annual parade gets underway at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 16.
It will start at 83rd Street and East Landis Avenue and make its way down Landis to 63rd Street, ending at Kix, the bar and entertainment complex owned by the Desiderio family.
St. Patrick, portrayed by a costumed Tim Kelly, is among the colorfully attired parade marchers in 2023.
Desiderio believes the parade has survived and thrived all these years later because of the joy and goodwill it spreads throughout the community.
“We feel that the parade brings the community together,” he said in an interview Tuesday. “On St. Patrick’s Day, everybody is Irish. The St. Patrick’s Day parade brings out all of the people in the colorful way they dress. They even decorate their cars.”
Sea Isle has a sizable population of Irish ancestry, and the St. Patrick’s Day parade has become a major part of their tradition, Desiderio noted.
“The Irish people are very proud. They are proud of this parade. We (the city) get calls all the time asking us, ‘What day is the parade?’” he said.
Years earlier, Sea Isle would hold the parade on St. Patrick’s Day, no matter which day of the week the holiday would fall on. Now, it is held on Saturdays to capitalize on the large number of visitors who come down to the shore for weekend getaways.
“We moved it to Saturdays to get more people to participate,” Desiderio said. “It’s a fun time for spectators. They get dressed up, too. It’s family-friendly, and a good time is had by all.”
Mickey and Minnie Mouse and other Disney characters ride on a colorful float in 2023
Desiderio said everyone is invited to participate in the parade. Colorful floats, live music and marchers dressed in festive, zany costumes will be among the highlights. Longtime Sea Isle residents Eileen Reilly Hooper and Gerri McCardle McDevitt will serve as grand marshals.
The fun for Eileen Reilly Hooper and Gerri McCardle McDevitt doesn’t necessarily end once the parade is over. Sea Isle’s St. Patrick’s Day parade is among a select number of St. Patrick’s Day parades throughout New Jersey that are formally recognized by the state Legislature.
The grand marshals of Sea Isle’s parade are invited up to the Statehouse in Trenton each year to be honored by the Senate and Assembly.
Sea Isle’s parade buffs may recall that Leonard and Gerard Desiderio also started the city’s Columbus Day parade in 1992. It was an annual tradition in Sea Isle until the COVID-19 pandemic took a toll and it was canceled.
Desiderio, however, said he will likely bring back the Columbus Day parade in October 2025 to revive the Italian-themed celebration sponsored by his family.
Craig and Gina Hodnett, Andrew and Jennifer Wiess and Gijsbert and Vickie Van Der Plas show off their comical green wigs while watching the 2023 parade.
