Metro Monthly

March offers opportunity to celebrate

March is quite a month. March 17 is my High Holiday – St. Patrick’s Day. I prefer St. Patrick’s Day to any other holiday. Growing up, my father always placed a high priority on celebrating his Irish heritage, and naturally, I followed suit.

These days I prefer the lead up to St. Patrick’s Day, which is held the Sunday before the seventeenth. This year, the Mahoning Valley St. Patrick’s Parade is being held on Sunday, March 14. The Mahoning Valley Parade is one of the top 10 in the entire country! Last year, we had tens of thousands of spectators and great weather. This year, the weather may not be as cooperative, but it is winter in Youngstown, Ohio.

The state championship high school football teams from Ursuline and Mooney will lead off the parade, accompanied by Bishop George Murry. What a feat it is to have two state champions from the Mahoning Valley. The grand marshal for this year’s parade is Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini. His mother, Ellen Attreed Mancini, is Irish (who knew?) Pat Chrystal is the “Irish Man of the Year” and Carol McGuiness is being honored as “Irish Woman of the Year.” The Lord Mayor of Kilkenny is Rick Billak and this year’s Ockerman Award winner is Joe Illencik Jr. Also being honored is the Thomas and Mary Therese Driscoll family; they will receive the Pat Chrystal Jr. Youth Award.

The parade steps off at 1 p.m., at the corner of McClurg Road and Market Street in Boardman and proceeds down Market to Southwoods. Yours truly will emcee the parade from the reviewing stand in front of Johnny’s Restaurant. Please join me for a great community event.

March 6 is the “Our Valley Cooks” event. It is being held at Mr. Anthony’s in Boardman. This is the second year for this fundraiser for Meridian Services. It runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and it’s a day filled with recipe competitions, food vendors and a cooking demonstration by Food Network’s Melissa D’Arabian. I will be hosting this event along with Danny Catullo and hope you will join us for a fun and informative day. Tickets are available online at ourvalleycooks.org. Please refer to that Web site for more details and a schedule of events.

This month, “Homeplate with Casey Malone” joins Bishop George Murry in the kitchen. He will be preparing one of his favorite pasta dishes. I look forward to getting to know our bishop and learn more about his background and his thoughts on the Mahoning Valley.

As you can see, it’s going to be a busy month. Please watch “Homeplate with Casey Malone” Saturday mornings at 7 a.m. on WYTV and Sunday mornings at 11:30 a.m. on MyYTV. Watch it, tape it, DVR it, just don’t miss it!