Rockville Centre St. Pat's tasting set for Friday

The eighth annual Food and Wine Tasting, a fundraiser for the Rockville Centre St. Patrick’s Parade, will take place this Friday, Jan. 27, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the St. Agnes Parish Center on North Village Avenue. To date, 31 local restaurants and businesses have agreed to donate food, wine and beer to the event.

Food from each restaurant will be available for sampling at a six-foot linen-covered table with a distinctive sign. The participating restaurants and businesses include Happy Hostess Caterers, Kasey’s Kitchen and Cocktails, Palace of Wong, Stinger’s Irish Pub, R.J. Daniel’s, Kookaburra Coffee Co., MacArthur Park, CJ’s Coffee Shop, Monaghan’s Irish Pub, Cannon’s Blackthorn, DeBonos, Village Liquor, George Martin, George Martin’s Grillfire, Swingbelly, Beechside BBQ, The Healthy Kitchen, Front Street Pizza, North Village Tavern, Prime Catch, Dark Horse Tavern, Five Pennies Creamery, Cabo, Churchill’s, Front Street Bakery, Croxley Ales, Dodici, Blue Moon, Press 195, Get Baked, Beach House Tavern, and Gyro Boss. Live music will be provided by Rockville Centre’s very own Jerry and the Newcomers, and the Hagen School of Irish Dance will perform Irish step dancing. The entrance fee for all of this is $35, and admission is available to all adults 21 and over.

“Last year we ended up with 29 participating restaurants, and we will have more this year,” said Parade Committee President Sean O’Rourke. “The Food and Wine Tasting is not only a great opportunity to sample our local restaurants’ delicious cuisine, but it is one of our most important fund-raising events.”

Proceeds from event go to the charities supported through various fundraising efforts. The parade’s mission is to provide financial support to three worthy charities every year. In the first 15 years of its existence, the parade has distributed more than $676,000 to 45 separate charities.

The charities chosen this year are the Association for Children with Down Syndrome (“ACDS”), The Ronald McDonald House of Long Island and East Coast Assistance Dogs, Inc. (“ECAD). Long-time Rockville Centre businesswoman Kathleen Alcock, the owner of “Kathleen’s of Donegal” at 10 North Park Ave., will be the first-ever female grand marshal of the parade, which is set for Saturday, March 24.