Irish-Italian parade, Eggstravaganza set

The first Irish-Italian Heritage Parade in the Tri-City area is set to be held March 14 in Morgan City and will be similar to such parades in New Orleans, Krewe of Dionysus member Walter Shepherd of Berwick said Monday.
The Irish-Italian Heritage Parade will start at the intersection of Onstead and Second streets at 11 a.m. March 14.
The parade will finish at Café Jo Jo’s on Front Street, Shepherd said.
The parade will travel down Second Street, make the loop around Lawrence Park and then head to Café Jo Jo’s. Organizers will hold a street party at the conclusion of the parade.
Front Street, in that area, will be closed off, and food and beverages will be available for purchase, Shepherd said.
“There’s going to be music playing and dancing in the street,” Shepherd said.
Because the Krewe of Dionysus already had insurance required to host a parade, the krewe decided to host the first Irish-Italian parade in St. Mary Parish, he said.
“We were talking about the Irish-Italian parades in New Orleans and other places, and we didn’t have one here,” Shepherd said.
“We’re hoping it’s going to be a good turnout of folks this year and something that we can grow on.”
The cost to enter the parade is $20 per person to walk in the parade. The entry fee for a two-person, four-person and six-person golf cart is $40, $45 and $50, respectively, he said.
For more information, call Shepherd at 985-312-9500.
Also March 14, the East St. Mary Parish Junior Auxiliary will hold its Willy Wonka’s Easter Eggstravaganza from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Morgan City Petting Zoo on Myrtle Street in Morgan City. The event is free of charge.
“The focus of this project is to give children in the community the opportunity to participate in Easter activities, as there are some children who do not have the means to do so,” said Mary Kathryn Skiles, a provisional member of the East St. Mary Parish Junior Auxiliary.
All first-year members of the club have to come up with a project, and the Easter Eggstravaganza is that event this year, Skiles said.
The East St. Mary Parish Junior Auxiliary is a nonprofit organization that focuses on child welfare “dedicating its hearts and hands to the children and citizens of need in this community,” Skiles said in a news release. The organization’s mission is to “care today – character tomorrow,” Skiles said.

This story is by Zachary Fitzgerald of the Daily Review staff. Reach him at zfitzgerald@daily-review.com.