The state's largest city is home to the state's oldest St. Patrick's Day Parade
NEWARK -- The state's largest city put on the green Friday, hosting its 81st annual St. Patrick's Day Parade that included a commemoration of one of the most significant events in modern Irish history, the centennial of the 1916 Easter Rising
The state's oldest St. Patrick's Day parade was led by Grand Marshal John J. Farmer, special counsel to the president of the Newark campus of Rutgers Law School, where he is also a professor and the Justice Alan B. Handler Scholar. The deputy grand marshal was Barbara Lyons, board member of the Irish American Cultural Institute.
The parade route took marchers from the Prudential Center on Mulberry Street and through downtown Newark, past the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the Gateway Center and Military Park before ending at St. Patrick's Pro-Cathedral and the Newark Museum.
"We are honored to have John Farmer and Barbara Lyons lead the Newark St. Patrick's Day Parade in its 81st year as both have distinguished themselves within their professions and respective communities," said Michael D. Byrne, general chairman, St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee, Inc., said in a prepared statement before the parade.