It’s a day where anyone can be Irish, even if you weren’t born that way, and there’s nobody more Irish today than this year’s parade marshal 64 year old Molly O’Brien.
““My parents, you know obviously my mother, her maiden name was Murphy, so I’m 100% Irish. I just love being Irish ,“ said O’Brien.
O’Brien says she’s honored to be chosen as this year’s parade grand marshal.
“I’m just so thrilled. I never thought I would be chosen. My mother was Grand Marshal 13 years ago. I figured that would be it for my family. That was an honor just in itself for me to be chosen. It’s just a great honor. A lot of great people were before me. So it was just a great honor for me to be chosen,” added O’Brien.
The Irish Day parade has been a Lima tradition for the past 25 years.
The parade wound its way south down main street from Robb avenue and included lots of people dressed in green.
“ Well I think it’s just a great family event. It brings out the community. It brings the community together. We try to focus downtown. Get people to see downtown. Enjoy downtown. You know the weather cooperating today it’s a going to be a great day,“ said Parade Co-Organizer Darby Bourk.
It’s really a celebration...a celebration of life and a heritage built on hard working people who helped build Lima.
“There’s a lot of north-end Irish people and their families are very well represented in the parade. Molly O’Brien is our Grand Marshal this year, who is a very strong north-end Irish woman. It’s a great family event,” added Bourk.
