Car Parades

Socially distant celebrations from the roadway

By Jennifer Corr

The pandemic may have made parades like the Glen Cove Saint Patrick’s Day Parade and the Glen Cove Memorial Day Parade impossible for the year 2020, but Glen Cove residents did not let the Covid-19 rain on their parade.

Glen Cove resident Roni Jenkins founded the Facebook group, “Car parade birthday and celebrations drive-bys - Long Island North Shore,” in late April after a conversation with her friend, Lynda Hickey. They both realized that there weren't many car parades on North Shore streets like in other communities in Long Island. They wanted that to change.

The Facebook group brought many residents together to celebrate birthdays, graduations, retirements and other significant life events. And the Glen Cove Volunteer Fire Department, Emergency Medical Services and the Police Department even joined in with their loud and bright sirens to bring smiles to faces during the difficult time.

On Memorial Day, the group held multiple car parades to honor veterans, including 96-year-old Bob O’Neill, a World War II veteran who stormed the beaches of Normandy, who would have normally attended a picnic at the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Glen Cove that day.

“The way that New Yorkers are, we come together and through it and we make each other stronger,” Jenkins said.

Jennifer Corr/Herald Gazette Above photo: Glen Cove City Councilman Gaitley Stevenson-Mathews, left and Councilwoman Marsha Silverman, standing far right, came to the car parade to honor the WWII vet. Left photo: Kerri O’Neill, left, and her father, Bob O’Neill, enjoy their Memorial Day car parade. Right photo: Glen Cove Police Department officers, with their sirens, also stopped by.