Thursday, March 27, 2025
The Rockville Centre St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee hosted its third annual Backyard Breakfast, in partnership with Backyard Players & Friends, at the organization’s storefront headquarters on North Long Beach Road, on March 2.
The Backyard Players embraced the Irish spirit at breakfast, with walls adorned in festive decorations and St. Patrick’s Day hats. The aroma of fresh coffee and pancakes filled the air as guests of all ages feasted on pancakes, eggs, sausage and bacon, coffee and juice.
There was a table filled with raffle prizes, and all proceeds from the raffle will benefit the committee’s chosen charities — SIBS Place, the Remember Nolan Project and the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust — as well as the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, set for March 22.
The Front Porch Market at Backyard Players, which features arts and crafts made by the players, also offered a range of St. Patrick’s Day-themed merchandise and arts and crafts available for purchase, with funds going to the organization.
The parade’s grand marshal, Suzanne Murphy Sullivan, greeted guests as they arrived. “It’s a great community event, because when people think of the parade, they think of that actual day and everything that goes on in town,” Sullivan said. “This is a real family event. You can see this from the young people (to the) older people, so that’s what makes it so special.”
Ellen White, a former grand marshal of the parade and the president of Backyard Players, first opened the organization’s doors to host the breakfast three years ago.
“Ellen White, of the Backyard Players, has been instrumental,” Jackie Kerr, president of the parade committee, said, “offering up their facility for us to utilize, and the Backyard Players are wonderful with helping, serving the people. It’s an amazing event.”
Backyard Players is an arts-based nonprofit that supports neurodiverse teens and young adults through classes in art, music and cooking. Its programs focus on teaching social skills, and it hosts year-round fundraisers, including Love Nana, at which baby clothes are collected for families in need.
The breakfast gave the Backyard Players the opportunity to cook and serve guests, sharing their talents while supporting the fundraiser.
“This pancake breakfast is really a fun event,” one guest, Nancy O’Reilly, said. “It’s great for the community, and also for the kids who participate in Backyard Players here, and they’re doing a great job being servers.”
“I think it’s a great event,” said another guest, Matt Lombardi, who brought his children. “I live right around the block from here, so it’s very easy for me to come down and take my kids to breakfast and support. It’s good to see the younger generation out, too, and getting in the spirit.”
The parade committee works all year round to raise funds for three selected charities at a number of events, including the breakfast. Each year, they select one national, one Irish and one locally focused charity on which to focus their fundraising efforts.
SIBSPlace, based in Rockville Centre, supports children coping with the life-threatening illness of a sibling or parent. The Remember Nolan Project, founded in honor of Nolan Burch by his parents, TJ and Kim, aims to help young adults recognize and prevent the dangers associated with hazing, after Nolan died in 2014. The Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust works to bring the bodies of loved ones who died abroad back to Ireland, in honor of Kevin Bell, whose family and friends raised so much money to return his body to Ireland from New York in 2013 that they founded the organization with the leftover funds.
The money raised at the annual breakfast also makes Rockville Centre’s annual parade possible. The parade began in 1997 and, according to the committee’s website, has become “one of the best-attended and supported parades outside of New York City.”
This year’s parade, on March 22, will kick off at noon. For more information on the committee’s mission, visit RVCStPatrick.com.
