Jim Scully Named White Plains St. Pat’s Day Parade Grand Marshal
The Scully family is the embodiment of an immigrant family attaining the American Dream.
Jim Scully moved to the United States from County Carlow in Ireland and his wife, the late, Bridie, moved from County Longford in Ireland in the 1950’s. The couple raised their son, also named Jim, in White Plains.
Scully Construction was started by Jim Scully in White Plains in 1972 and is now owned by his son. “It’s a good immigrant story,” Jim Scully said last week.
Scully’s charitable efforts are being recognized by the White Plains St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee, which named him grand marshal of the 2019 parade.
This year’s parade is scheduled for March 9 at noon.
The grand marshal and the parade aides were honored on Feb. 27 at the Grand Marshal Installation Night at the Vintage Lounge & Restaurant.
Scully “is a tremendous force in the community with all of his charitable endeavors.” He has helped us out with the parade for many, many years,” Parade Committee Chairman John Martin said last week.
“I’m very excited and honored to be the grand marshal of this year’s parade,” Scully said. “I’m heavily involved with (Archbishop) Stepinac High School. I give back there because I attended Stepinac and I’m very impressed with the work that they do with the young men and I continue to support them in any way I can.”
Martin, who is president of the White Plains Common Council, said Scully will march in front.
Scully will be joined at the front of the parade by aides Patti Cuzack Avezzano, Jennifer Daly Bruton, Dr. Coleen Fay, White Plains Police Department Sgt. Kevin Farrelly, Patrick Massaroni and Tommy Ulrich. “They’re all White Plains people. They all have their own charities that they support,” Scully said.
Martin said the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade is an important tradition in White Plains. “We started it in 1997 with our first parade in 1998 and it’s grown tremendously over the years,” he said. “We started out with five bands and now were up somewhere to the low 20s.” The first parade had one float and 10 floats are expected to participate in this year’s event, Martin said.
“It’s a great community event. People love to come out for it,” Martin said. “It’s like the first sign of spring. People get to actually come outside and enjoy some outdoor time.” If the weather is good, thousands attend the roughly one-mile St. Patrick’s Day Parade, he said.
This year’s parade will begin at the intersection of Mamaroneck Avenue and Old Mamaroneck Road continue up Main Street and end in the area of City Hall, Martin noted.
“The parade has become very popular,” Scully said. “First of all, I credit the committee that started this back in 1997. They had the foresight to know the importance of this parade not only to the Irish immigrants but to all immigrants and all the residents of White Plains. It’s a great day regardless of the weather. It gets people out. The restaurants do very well and it’s a nice community event.”
