Pike group gearing up for massive US parade
CROWDS OF UP TO 400,000 EXPECTED IN SAVANNAH
The Carrigbyrne Pike and Choir Group participating in the St Patrick's Day parade in Savannah in 2010.
THE CARRIGBYRNE Pike and Choir Group are currently preparing to participate in one of the biggest St. Patrick's Day Parades in the world.
The group will be further reinforcing and celebrating Wexford strong links with Savannah when they travel over to the American State of Georgia next month to add to their St. Patrick's Day festivities.
Some forty members from the group, hailing from all over Wexford, will be travelling State side on March 10 to take part in the widely-acclaimed St. Patrick's Day Parade as well as associated concerts and commemorations, during which their newly established mumming group will also be performing.
An invite was extended to the group following their very successful trip there in 2010 as well as trips to New York in 1998 for the St. Patrick's Day Parade as guests of the New York Wexford Association and to Newfoundland in 2000 to take part in the Bicentennial Commemoration of the United Irish Mutiny in the Newfoundland Fencibles.
Savannah's parade is one of the biggest parades in the world, drawing crowds of some 400,000 spectators, only surpassed in the USA by New York City.
The day after they arrive, the group will be participating in a Celtic Cross Ceremony as well as the Jasper Green Ceremony, which honours military service and the revolutionary war hero Sargent William Jasper, who was of Irish descent.
While in Savannah they will also be remembering fellow Wexfordians who left a legacy in the American city. They will also be taking part in a ceremony in honour of Fr. Peter Whelan, a Wexford born priest who served in the Diocese of Savannah, and will be honouring the second Bishop of Savannah John Barry, a native of Oylegate.
The group will be paying a visit to Fort Pulaski, where Fr. Peter Whelan was a Chaplain and ministered to both sides in the Civil War. His was the biggest funeral Savannah had ever seen and the group will be visiting his grave.
In addition the group will be performing in an encore concert at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist on March 15, before taking part in the St. Patrick's Day Parade wearing period uniforms and carrying pikes.
According to Bill Murray from the group, members are eagerly looking forward to travelling to America, following the fantastic response they received there in 2010 when they were awarded the key of the city and were presented with the key of Chatham County in Georgia.
Founded in 1997, the Carrigbyrne Pike and Choir Group have featured in more than two hundred historical commemorations in Ireland and abroad and are responsible for establishing permanent memorials and producing historical documentaries and films.
The Savannah Irish Cultural Society organised the group's return in order to strengthen heritage ties linking their community with Wexford. Dozens of surnames connect the two coastal areas as a result of mass Irish emigration that changed the complexion of Savannah and gave rise to their St. Patrick's Day celebrations.
- ELAINE FURLONG
