The Newport Saint Patrick’s Day Parade Committee announced on Thursday that it has selected Robert “Rocky” Kempenaar II as the 66th Annual Parade Grand Marshal.
The 66th Annual Newport Saint Patrick’s Day Parade will be held, rain, snow, or shine, on Saturday, March 12, 2022. It will begin promptly at 11:00 am from Newport City Hall and will proceed to Carroll Avenue at Saint Augustin’s Church in the heart of the Fifth Ward.
The parade will be dedicated in memory of Garrett M. “Gary” Loftus.
According to the Committee, the Grand Marshals from 2020 (Brent Ryan and Derek Luke) and 2021 (Jimmy Winters) and families of those the parade was dedicated to in 2021 and 2021 (Frederick and Maurice Margolis in 2020, Thomas P. Lalli in 2021) who did not have a parade, will help lead the parade this year by falling in behind Kempenaar and the Loftus family.
The 2020 and 2021 Newport Saint Patrick’s Day Parades were canceled due to the Coronavirus.