B-BP St. Pat's Parade Carries a Special Message This Year

Community residents are being urged to get their green on, as well as their 'Monsell,' at this year's Bayport-Blue Point St. Patrick's Day parade.

Long Island's most popular St. Paddy's day event will likely boast a special sea of green as local groups are selling t-shirts to be worn honoring the memory of Doug Monsell. The parade will be held Sunday, March 10.

Monsell was a beloved district business teacher who lost a valiant battle last May against liver disease. He was highly respected for his love of teaching, his passion for the high school DECA club and his enthusiasm for coaching young athletes.

The B-BP teacher has been selected as this year's Grand Marshall in postmortem. The t-shirt endeavor is a fundraiser for the School to Business program which Monsell initiated at the high school.

"The idea for the shirt came from the old saying 'everyone is Irish on St Patrick’s Day," explained Lenore Ringer-Prezioso, secretary of the Bayport-Blue Point Chamber of Commerce.

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"So I said everyone is a Monsell on St Patrick’s Day and at the suggestion of Chandler Varone we shorted it to 'Everyone is a Monsell Today,'" she added. Varone, a B-BP student, designed and built a memorial patio at the high school in honor of Monsell last year.

The shirts, selling for $10, are available at the high school store and at State Farm, at the corner of Gillette Avenue and Montauk Highway, in Bayport.

The chamber and the Bayport Foundation are providing the shirts free to the 97 members of the high school band performing in the parade. The groups hope they'll be hundreds of parade watchers wearing the same message.

"I predict a sea of those shirts, a testimony to the impact he had on so many people," said Ringer-Prezioso.