Mayo native to lead Cleveland St Patrick's Day Parade

AN Achill native will lead the St Patrick's Day Parade in Mayo's twin city of Cleveland after he was chosen as the Grand Marshal of the 2024 parade.

Patrick Thomas Murphy, a native of Polranny in Achill will be the Grand Marshal for the Cleveland St Patrick's Day Parade which is one of the oldest and best attended in the US with the first taking place in 1842.

He will lead an anticipated 10,000 participants through the streets of Cleveland on St Patrick's Day with close to half a million people expected to line the streets along the shores of Lake Erie.

The theme of the 2024 Cleveland parade is 'Ireland: One Island One Nation' and is expected to begin at 2pm starting on Superior Avenue at East 18th Street and will end at the intersection of Rockwell Avenue and Ontario St.

Patrick was born in Achill, the third of eight children to Thomas and Angela Murphy but was only a toddler when the family emigrated to Cleveland in 1962.

The family have been active in Irish American life in Cleveland and Patrick himself is a former trustee and officer of the West Side Irish American Club as well as being a member of the Irish American Club - East Side, and the Mayo Society.

Patrick has served as the Executive Director of the St Patrick’s Day Parade in Cleveland and organised the publication of a book, 'The Day We Celebrate' chronicling the 175 Year History of the Cleveland parade.

Pat has been married to Carlene for the last 35 years and they are the parents to Kelly, Kurt, Tim, Sam and Dan and he regularly travels to his native Achill and catching up with relatives.

He graduated with a law degree in 1986 and is a partner in the Cleveland law firm of Dworken & Bernstein, specialising in medical malpractice and nursing home abuse cases.

He is a founding member and trustee of the Thomas J Scanlon Irish American Law Society of Cleveland and in 2016 and 2022 Patrick chaired the Law Society’s symposiums in Galway, Dublin and Cork. He was honoured with the Walks of Life Award from the Irish American Archives Society in 2020 and named the ‘ilrish Person of the Year’ in 2023. Recently Pat was selected to become a member of the Irish Heritage Advisory Committee for the Irishtown Bend project.

Mayo and Achill has strong ties with Cleveland going back to the time of the Great Famine and last year a series of events took place on both sides of the Atlantic to mark the 20th anniversary of the twinning of Mayo County Council, Achill and the city of Cleveland.

The twinning agreement between Mayo County Council, Achill and the city of Cleveland was described as the 'gold standard' of how 'sister cities' should work and operate.