HOLYOKE, Mass. (WWLP) – The St. Patrick’s Committee announced Jane Chevalier as next year’s Grand Marshal for the Holyoke parade.

The Grand Marshal of the Holyoke St. Patrick’s Parade is the highest honor given by the Parade Committee. Chevalier is the daughter of late Janet and Edward Coughlin. She grew up in Holyoke and has been a member of the Holyoke Parade Committee since 1998 and years of watching her father being involved, who was a Grand Marshal for the parade in 1992.

“It’s truly a shock. This parade committee means everything to me and my family. We are a family that grew up with the parade. In our house it’s like Christmas without the presents. We are always together, it brings everyone together and it’s what it does in the larger community and that’s why we love it so much,” said Chevalier.

Chevalier was named the Rohan Award winner in 2011 served as the Parade President in 2014. Outside of the parade committee, she is on the Board of Directors for the Holyoke Children’s Museum, Chair of the Board of Directors for the Massachusetts Children’s Alliance and the Director of the Victim Witness Advocate Unit at the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office.

Karen Casey, 2023 Parade President, stated “I’d like to thank the Grand Marshal selection committee for their hard work on choosing a Grand Marshal, it isn’t an easy task with so many great choices, but they came through with the perfect choice! Jane will represent the city well and I am looking for to spending the upcoming year with Jane and her family and following her down the streets of Holyoke on March 19th. I know her family is proud of her and that her dad “Pop” is looking down on her with great pride!”

Each year, it’s given to a person of Irish Ancestry who has distinguished themselves as a loyal person to the Parade Committee, their career, their family and their heritage.

The 70th annual parade is scheduled for March 19, 2023.