Tenth Annual Taste of Rockville Centre set for Jan. 24

The Rockville Centre St. Patrick’s Parade Committee’s Tenth Annual Taste of Rockville Centre will take place on Friday, Jan. 24 from 7 to 10 p.m. at the St. Agnes Parish Center, located on North Village Avenue.

To date, the event will feature more than 25 local restaurants and businesses including 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, Village Liquor, George Martin’s Grillfire, Front Street Pizza, Dark Horse Tavern, Cabo, Churchill’s, Front Street Bakery, Press 195, Beach House Tavern, Sangre de Uva, The Farmhouse Kitchen, DeBono’s Caterers, Dodici, Blue Moon, George Martin’s Burger Bar, Polka Dot Pound Cake, 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.

“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,” said Parade Committee President Kathleen Schwarting.

The proceeds from the evening, and all of the committee’s fundraisers, help to underwrite the parade and support charities. Each year, the Rockville Centre St. Patrick’s Parade, in accordance with its mission, financially supports three charities: a local, national and an Irish charity. In 17 years, the “Parade that Cares and Shares” has distributed over $788,000 to 52 charities. The three charities selected for 2014 are New Ground, Inc., which is devoted to breaking the cycle of homelessness and poverty for families and veterans by providing them with education, employment opportunities and financial literacy; the Angelman Syndrome Foundation, which is seeking a cure for a disease that inflicts severe developmental delay, speech difficulties, seizure disorders and more on young children; and the Nassau County Ancient Order of Hibernians Feis and Festival, which holds an annual celebration of Irish culture and history.

“The parade’s Board of Directors takes great care and exercises tremendous due diligence in selecting our three charities every year, as it is the most important thing we will do each year,” Parade Committee Vice-President Mike Cosgrove said. “Once again, we are extremely proud of the high quality of the three charities we will be supporting.”

This year’s Grand Marshal is long-time Rockville Centre resident Sean O’Rourke, the president and CEO of Coast-Line International Distributors Ltd., a supplier of raw materials to the aircraft and aerospace industries, since 1993. O’Rourke is the Past President of the Rockville Centre St. Patrick’s Parade and was honored by both the New York State Gaelic Athletic Association and Ards Friary in 2010 as their “Man of the Year.”

To learn more about “The Parade That Cares and Shares” and its Tenth Annual Taste of Rockville Centre, visit www.rvcstpatrick.com. And don’t forget to come out for the 18th Annual Rockville Centre St. Patrick’s Parade on Saturday, March 22.