Page 26 - South Mississippi Living - March, 2016

COASTNOTES luck
Annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration parade and 5k set for March 12
OF THE
story by Lynn Lofton photo by James Edwards Bates
irish
In celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, the Hibernia Marching Society hosts a run beginning at 9 a.m. and a parade at 2 p.m. on March 12 in downtown Biloxi. The Colleen is McKenzie Irish. She is a senior at the University of Southern
Mississippi majoring in political science and minoring in legal studies with a 3.9 grade point average. After graduating, she plans to attend law school. She is president of the Student Government Association and a member of the National Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society and the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. During the summer of her sophomore year, she lived and studied in Costa Rica.
Irish is a member of the Biloxi Lion’s Club, a volunteer at the Gulf Coast Women’s Center for Non-Violence, and a small business owner through which she advocates the importance of reading in elementary schools. She was crowned Miss Mississippi Junior Teen in 2010 and the Biloxi Camellia Queen in 2012.
The Grand Marshall is John Carter, a graduate of Gulfport High School who attended Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and Tulane University. He began his tourism career as an executive host at Copa Casino where he excelled at guest relations along with recruitment and retention of high value gaming customers. To broaden his experience in the tourism industry, Carter later joined the staff at Chili’s in the management training program and then at Red Lobster as a restaurant manager. When Island View Casino Resort opened in the wake
of Hurricane Katrina, he returned to the casino industry and currently serves as the business development executive at Island View. He currently sits on the Regional Tourism Bureau Board.
Carter loves giving back to the community through charities such as the Red Cross and the Humane Society of South Mississippi. He is an avid fisherman and member of the Gulf Coast Conservation Association and Ducks Unlimited. He resides in Saucier with his wife Amy and son Lucas.
The Hibernia Marching Society, along with the Gulf Coast Running Club, hosts the one-mile and 5K run prior to the parade. Registration begins at 8 a.m. The one-mile run begins at 9 a.m. and the 5K run begins at 9:30 a.m.
The parade lines up in front of the Biloxi Yacht Club and proceeds west on Highway 90, then north onto Lameuse Street, then west on Martin Luther King Boulevard and ends at the Saenger Theater.
For the race: Mark Grace, 228.235.3280 or Paula Grace, 228.327.3210. For the parade: Mary Anne McCusker, 228.265.3416.
www.hiberniamarchingsociety.com www.gulfcoastrunningclub.org/
26 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • March 2016
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