‘We were...blown away!’ Meet the 2020 Hilton Head St. Patrick’s Day grand marshals
A husband-and-wife team will lead the 2020 Hilton Head Island St. Patrick’s Day parade as grand marshals on March 15.
Gloria and Allan LaCoe were selected by the parade committee and presented with their sashes Wednesday night. This year’s parade, the 37th annual celebration, will step off at 3 p.m. March 15 on Hilton Head’s Pope Avenue.
“We were…blown away!” Gloria said of the honor.
“My first reaction was that there are way too many people on this island who are far more deserving,” added Allan.
The LaCoes are likely best known for helping to establish the Annual Thanksgiving Community Dinner at Hudson’s Seafood House on the Docks. The event began 21 years ago by serving 300 people a free Thanksgiving meal, but the annual tradition has grown to bring together more than 1,500 people.
Gloria, born in central Massachusetts and Allan, born and raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania, came to Hilton Head Island in 1995 as part-time residents and made the island their permanent home shortly after.
Since then, they’ve started a real estate business and become involved in local organizations such as The Children’s Center, Salkahatchie Summer Service, St. Andrews by the Sea Soup Kitchen, Island Recreation Center/People for Parks, Southern Coast Heart Ball and Main Street Youth Theater.
“It is the couple’s tireless dedication to benevolence and charity that inspired the Committee to select them as this year’s Grand Marshals,” according to a news release from the parade committee.
The 2020 Hilton Head Island St. Patrick’s Day Parade
The parade will follow its usual route, beginning at the south end of Pope Avenue near Coligny Circle and marching north to Office Park Road.
It will make a left turn and end in front of Park Plaza and The Courtyard Building.
Around 30,000 people usually turn out to watch the oldest St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the state of South Carolina.
This year’s parade will feature six high school bands, including Battery Creek High School, Ridgeland-Hardeeville High School, Williston-Elko Drum Line, Sol C. Johnson High School, Bishop Moore High School from Orlando, Florida, and Savannah High School.
The bands will be joined by pipe and drum bands from numerous cities, including Atlanta, New York City and Orlando. The parade will also feature colorful floats from nonprofit organizations and local elected officials.
This story was originally published February 6, 2020 at 11:19 AM.
