The City of Hornell's St. Patrick's Parade is held on the Saturday BEFORE St. Partick's Day. This year, the parade was held on March 15th. Our AOH Brothers and Sisters from Elmira joined us for the 21st Annual parade. Dave Logan and Jim Clancy carried the Hornell AOH banner while Dave Watt and Dave Crosby carried America's and Ireland's flags. Our newly formed pipe and drum corps (minus pipes for now) deferred to Crystal City Pipe and Drum Corps in the parade as they made the long trip and we could follow them, "this year". Hornell native, Mike Waufle, Defensive Line Coach of Super Bowl Champion NY Giants, was the Grand Marshal of the parade riding the float of Mrs. Smith's 3rd grade class from Hornell Intermediate school.  

This parade has been described as "organized chaos". You don't have to register to be in the parade, just get in line at the Intermediate School Parking Lot and bring your Irish Pride. The parade will start promptly at 11:00am and is led by "mayor for life" Shawn Hogan and runs along Main Street to the Knights of Columbus.

The 2008 St Patrick's celebration started early for the Hornell AOH. We met in the K of C parking lot to assemble and march to 8:00 am Mass. Brothers David Logan and Jim Clancy carried the banner while David Watt and David Crosby carried Ireland's and America's flags. The newly formed pipe and drum corps (minus pipes, for now) provided the cadence for the march to St Ann's for Mass and to Paddy's for Corporate Communion. The pipe and drum corps was Jerry McAneney on snare, H. Joe Donlon on tenor and Mark Kelly on the bass drum. Mike Waufle, Defensive Line Coach of Super Bowl Champion NY Giants marched with the brothers to church for mass and Paddy's for breakfast. Thanks to Mike and Martha (O'Connor) Marino for letting us know that Mike Waufle would be interested. After we presented Mike Waufle (HHS Class of '72) with an AOH Sons of Ireland Hornell, NY sweatshirt, Mike, who is a devout Catholic, regailed the brothers with stories of his father while working for "the Erie" and enjoying the Hornell area and of his grandparents, 3 of which came from Ireland. I believe I can sum up Mike's comments: It's fun to be Irish and to celebrate being Irish with parades, music and beverages, but being Catholic and celebrating being Catholic by going to mass and saying the rosary is very important. He challenged the brothers to say the rosary, as he does on his way to work, every day. And to concentrate on the 4 mysteries. Because in those mysteries, you can make a connection to something in everyday life. An excellent and prayerful way to start every day.