Corned beef and cabbage, bagpipes, and lots and lots of green.
St. Joseph’s University, New York alumni gathered Sunday, March 3, at the Dyker Beach Golf Course in Brooklyn for a St. Patrick’s Day Celebration, enjoying Irish-American cuisine while donning festive attire.
The annual event, hosted by the University’s Office of Institutional Advancement, included brunch, a bagpipe performance featuring Long Island Campus’ Nick Minguillon ’27 and a performance by the O’Boomgaardens — a musical group that features SJNY President Donald R. Boomgaarden, Ph.D.; Director of the Writer’s Foundry MFA program Lee Clay Johnson; and Mike Gaulke ’19 and Geovanny Juarez ’21, M.S. and MBA ’23, both of whom took courses with Dr. Boomgaarden.
“I started playing pipes in the eighth grade because I wanted to play at my high school, St. Anthony’s, which has a pipe band,” Minguillon, a child study major, said. “I was pipe sergeant my sophomore and junior years and pipe major my senior year. And now I just play with my competition band, Saffron United, which will be playing all throughout Long Island this month.”
Joining Minguillon was “NYC Piper” Jerry Dixon, who has been featured on the cover of the official program of the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade, as well as in the “Celebrating 250 Years of the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade” book. Dixon is the pipe major for the New York State Fraternal Order of Police Irish War Pipe Band.
The O’Boomgaardens performed several bluegrass songs, exploring and celebrating the influence of Irish music on American music.
Check out some photos from the St. Patrick’s Day Celebration:
