The rest of the region is still shaking off the gray of winter. But things in Holyoke are already looking mighty green, which can mean only one thing: Irish-Americans from all over the region will gather to honor their heritage for the annual St. Patrick's Parade.
Ambassador of Ireland Award recipient Dr. Christine Kinealy, left, and John F. Kennedy Award recipient Doris Kearns Goodwin, both of whom are being honored for their professional accomplishments as people of Irish heritage, were among those who attended a luncheon Saturday at The Delaney House in Holyoke prior to Sunday's parade.
Michael Beswick
HOLYOKE — The Paper City will be awash in a sea of green come Sunday, when the annual St. Patrick's Parade kicks off at 11:30 a.m. But activities honoring the patron saint of Ireland got underway Saturday with the 38th annual St. Patrick's Road Race and a special lunch celebrating two heavy-hitter historians of Irish descent: Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin and Irish history professor Christine Kinealy.
Kearns Goodwin, a presidential historian and author of numerous New York Times bestsellers, including "The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga," is this year's recipient of the John F. Kennedy Award. The annual honor is presented by the Holyoke St. Patrick's Parade Committee to an American of Irish descent who is distinguished in his or her chosen field or profession.
The Liverpool-born Kinealy, an expert on the Irish famine or "great hunger" ("an gorta mora" in Irish), is this year's recipient of the Ambassador of Ireland Award. The annual honor, which must be approved by the Irish government, is presented by the committee to a person "responsible for promoting and fostering relationships between Ireland and the U.S." Kinealy is professor of Irish history at the Caspersen Graduate School of Drew University in New Jersey.
"This is a great honor. It was very unexpected," Kinealy said at an awards lunch Saturday afternoon at Holyoke's Delaney House. She was joined there by Kearns Goodwin, members of the parade committee and other prominent Irish-Americans.
"I can tell already what's so special about this," Kearns-Goodwin said, referring to St. Patrick's Day festivities in Holyoke. "For a small period of time, you feel a part of it. ... The people here are just so wonderful," she said.
Kinealy, named one of Irish America magazine's most influential Irish-Americans in 2011, has a forthcoming book, "The Kindness of Strangers," which focuses on charity given to Ireland during the famine.
Abraham Lincoln was among those who tried to help the native Irish during a wave of successive famines in the mid-19th century that killed 1 million people, mostly poor Catholics, and forced about another million to emigrate. Lincoln, an up-and-coming American political leader who would go on to become the nation's 16th president, sent $10 to help feed the starving Irish, according to Kinealy.
Kearns Goodwin's latest book, "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln," was not only a best-seller, but it served as the basis for Steven Spielberg's award-winning film, "Lincoln," for which Daniel Day Lewis received the Oscar Award for best actor.
On Saturday morning, as the running race was about to start, a flock of geese looking like a flyover appeared overhead, “When Irish Eyes are Smiling” came over the loudspeaker, and the sun came out just in time to warm the 6,000 runners entered in the 10-kilometer event.
Olympians Alistair Cragg and Amy Hastings finished first among male and female competitors, with times of 29:17 and 33:32, respectively. Cragg, a South Africa native with Irish heritage, now runs for Ireland. He participated in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Hastings, an American who lives in Rhode Island, finished 11th in the 10,000-meter race at last summer’s London Olympics.
Longmeadow resident Matt Wilson, who ran his first St. Patrick’s Road Race on Saturday, summed up the experience like this: "I had a blast. The course was lined with spectators, music, and the festive atmosphere made me realize why this race is so special."
Sunday's St. Patrick's Parade is Holyoke's 62nd, an annual event that draws hundreds of thousands of people to a city that was once among the most Irish in the commonwealth.