Springsteen’s Ireland roots to show in Freehold St. Pat’s parade

I’m Irish. Bruce Springsteen is Irish. I live in Freehold, born and raised. Bruce is from Freehold. I love St. Patrick’s Day and Bruce has been known to party. We ought to be besties by now, right?

But word is several people representing his ancestral home of Rathangan, Ireland are coming to Freehold to march in the St. Pat’s Day Parade on March 16. A whole delegation, in fact.

Fine Bruce, I guess we’re not quite the BFFs I thought we were. But I forgive you.

“New Jersey and Ireland, and, more importantly, those that call these two wonderful places ‘home,’ have a lot more in common than most people might realize,” said Freehold Mayor Kevin Kane.

We are as proud of our connection to Rathangan as we are of our connection to Bruce Springsteen, and we are going to celebrate that as much as we can.

Springsteen's great-great-grandmother on his father’s side, Ann Garrity, came to Freehold from Rathangan in 1852. In January, officials in Rathangan formally approved a Twin City resolution between Rathangan and Freehold.

On an upcoming date, there will be a signing of a twinning charter between the two towns.

Back in May, Freehold Mayor Kane visited Rathangan and attended a Springsteen concert in Dublin.

On stage that night, The Boss said, “We got the mayor of Freehold, who's here tonight. My hometown, I got relatives from Rathangan and they're going to twin the two towns together. This is for my homies.”

It’s all coming full circle when the Rathangan delegation marches in the St Patrick’s Day Parade on Sunday, March 16. More information on the parade at downtownfreehold.com.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5's Kylie Moore. Any opinions expressed are Kylie's own. You can follow Kylie on Instagram.
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