Back on the green path

The parade will once again follow its normal route down Maple Avenue. It was forced to reroute marchers last year due to the ongoing construction on the road.

Christina Daly/Herald

Former Village Justice Bob Williams will be the grand marshal for this year’s parade, which will follow its usual route along Maple Avenue.

Courtesy St. Patrick’s Parade Committee

• 
• 
• 

The 19th annual St. Patrick’s Parade will fill the streets of downtown Rockville Centre with Irish cheer next weekend.

The parade will follow its traditional route down Maple Avenue. Last year, the route changed because of the ongoing construction on the road.

“What better way to come together as a community than a parade?” said Mayor Francis X. Murray. “It’s one of the most exciting days here in Rockville Centre. The downtown shops are booming, the streets are full of Rockville Centre pride and we’re able to give back to three worthy causes.”

The parade will step off from Parking Field 12, on Sunrise Highway, and head north on Long Beach Road. Then marchers will hang a left and head west on Maple Avenue until it ends, making a sharp turn onto College Place and then Quealy Place, where they will parade past Village Hall and the St. Agnes Cathedral. The route continues onto Washington Street, and ends at Parking Field 2.

This year’s grand marshal is former Village Justice Bob Williams. He was chosen for, among many reasons, his lifetime of service to the village and others.

After he graduated from law school, Williams joined the Army, and was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for Meritorious Service. He began his legal career as a Town of Hempstead attorney. In 1986, he opened his own firm in Rockville Centre.

From 1991 to 2007, Williams served as a village justice. He was also elected president of the Nassau County Magistrates Association and chairman of the Real Property Committee of the Nassau County Bar Association. He is a past president of the Nassau University Medical Center, and has been a member of the Mercy Medical Center board of trustees. He has also sat on the St. Agnes Cathedral school board, served as counsel to the village’s Board of Zoning Appeals and is now a member of the Board of Ethics for the village and the school district.

Williams also has a long history with the St. Patrick’s Parade. He was part of the initial organizing committee and helped incorporate it as a non-profit in 1997. He was legal counsel to the Parade Committee for many years, and served as ticket chairman, protocol chair and chair of the Commemorative Mass.