Martialing at the city's St. Patrick's Day parade was the annual highlight of Queen's Carpenter, who has retired for decades, but this year he will lead the charges.
Michael Ben, who married 75-year-old Michael Ben, will become an adult former member at the event Monday. He is the honor of being said to be “all Irish dreams” and the moment of Limerick's son Full-Celle.
“It's the pinnacle of everything you've ever dreamed of,” Ben told the Post ahead of this year's celebration.
“It's an honor. It's like hitting the lottery.”
He runs the St. Patrick's Day Parade (more commonly known as Rockaway St. Patrick's Day) in Queens County, but for much of its 50-year history, Ben said he never imagined he would one day lead the world's biggest march.
Ben humbly described herself as unparalleled to her predecessors, including Heineken CEO Maggie Timony and Northwell Health president and CEO Michael Dowling, who served as the parade's grand marshal in 2024 and 2017, respectively.
But Ben's deep community roots have led the parade organizers to unanimously vote for him as the leader of 2025. He works with community charities all year round, in addition to directing Suil Na Gael TV, a television show called The Eyes of the Irish, which promotes Irish culture and heritage.
St. Patrick's Day has played a major role in Ben's life since he was a young boy who grew up in the city of Limerick, Ireland.
Both Ben and his spouse's family were from Limerick City, and he and his wife moved separately to the Big Apple as teenagers in the 1960s. In search of the American Dream, Ben's family was following the mission of his uncle.
Both families settled in the Bronx, but it was a St. Patrick's Day celebration at Manhattan Dance Hall, where Ben and his wife Christina, eventually crossed the path by fate.
“Everyone… I'll take the table and meet people from home,” Ben recalled.
“It was so funny that I met my wife at the Limerick dance. [in the Big Apple]. I was with her brother and I said, 'Who's it!'” Ben said he had hit his future brother-in-law in the past at a local soccer game.
“So we were talking and we started dancing — and she stabbed her phone number in my pocket,” he said of his now wife. “The next day I called her and we started going out and we got married. Thank you to God. She was always by my side. ”
The couple was eventually surrounded by the famous Irish enclave on Rockaway in 1980.
There, Ben met Jimmy Conroy. Sullivan, another Limerick man who founded St. Patrick's Day Parade, Queens County, just four years ago. The two became quick friends after hearing Sullivan Belt, the iconic Irish tune “Galiowen,” the most famously used as George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry Regiment Marching Song.
“I heard him and I said, 'Boy, I've come to be involved in this guy!” Ben said of Sullivan.
Ben quickly rose to the organization and served as Sullivan's vice president until the sudden death of its founder in 1987. Since then, Ben has served as the main character of the parade, including its 50th anniversary earlier this month.
So far, the only difference Ben can identify from the Rockaway Party from the party across the city is the “volume” of the crowd.
However, this year's festival saw new features at the start of the parade, and Ben revealed to the Post.
For the first time, a stage is built in Duffy Square, Times Square, from which Mayor Eric Adams blows a whistle to mark the beginning of March. Marking the new kickoff is Seo Linn, Ireland's own folk group. The lead singer, by chance, is Ben's step-nephew.
The Big Apple is flooded with Ben on Monday. A family of around 40 proudly march alongside Grand Marshall, including Ben's six children, 11 grandchildren and dozens who plunged from Ireland. Ben's Native Brimerick's 16 councillors are also flying to celebrate their honor.
Ben said the part he looks forward to most is stepping into St. Patrick's Cathedral for the morning mass, which officially begins its parade every year.
“You enter St. Patrick's Cathedral – you get goosebumps. I've done it years ago, and this year I'll be part of it,” Ben said, adding that his shy wife was nervous about walking through the church procession.
“I told her, 'You had to hold me!'” And then [Cardinal Timothy Dolan]He said, “I'll see you in the first aisle,” so he knows he has something on his sleeve. ”
Ben's day begins much earlier, with the Irish breakfast at 6am at Pig'n whistle, where he is scheduled to be filled with bangers, or sausages, mash and pudding.
“You're ready to go and tuned, and the corned beef and cabbage will come later,” Ben said.
Grand Marshall laughed when asked if Guinness or Jameson was on the menu.
“I'm sure I'm sure,” he said.
