Queen Chosen For New London St. Patrick's Day Parade

An 18-year-old Waterford student has been selected to be the queen of the New London St. Patrick's Day Parade.

Darcy Van Ness, a UConn-Avery Point student who is majoring in the ACES Program, works part-time at the Waterford Public Library. The parade committee also selected Heather Cote, Katy Murphy and Bethany Paige as members of the queen's court.

The queen and court will attend events on behalf of the committee. As queen, Van Ness will receive makeup and hairstyling from Bijou Salon and Spa, a gift certificate from Greenlight Boutique, and jewelry from Mallove Jewelers.

The parade has also named municipal historian Sally Ryan as the parade's grand marshall.

The New London St. Patrick's Day Parade will take place at 1 p.m. on March 17.

Mia Berube, chair of the parade committee, provided the following biography of Van Ness:

Darcy’s plan after graduation is to become an Art Therapist for children in inner-city schools. Her personal ambition is to become a successful therapist and open her own practice.

She enjoys painting, drawing, baking, cooking, dancing, singing and reading.

Darcy says her most memorable community involvement is “Rock for Japan”, a relief concert for Japan after the terrible natural disasters that happened there. She contacted local bands, made up of mostly high school kids, designed t-shirts to sell, and raffled off donated goods from local businesses. She raised over $1,000 for the American Red Cross’ relief efforts. She is in the process of planning another concert for families affected by Hurricane Sandy and the recent Nor’easter with friends.

To Darcy, the parade theme “Everyone is Irish for a Day” means that everyone is coming together as a community for a day. She says “as a girl with Irish heritage, I’ve always identified St. Patrick’s Day as a time for connecting with friends and family and having a good time, that’s what it’s all about.”

She says, “If crowned Parade Queen, I will stress how vital it is for everyone to become one big, happy Irish family. I will encourage everyone to come out to the parade and meet new people.”

She goes on to say that the title of St. Patrick’s Day Parade Queen would allow her to reach out and help the community further and that if given the privilege of being our Queen she would make sure to use it