Montauk is no stranger to memorable holiday traditions. Saint Patrick’s Day and the annual parade hosted by the Montauk Friends of Erin is a lifelong tradition for Montauk locals and visitors alike. Ready to join in on the fun? Plan your Montauk trip for the last weekend in March as the 63rd Annual Montauk Saint Patrick’s Day Parade is being held on Sunday, March 30, 2025 with step-off beginning at 12 PM.
Each year, the Montauk Friends of Erin honors one of their volunteers for outstanding work within our community. This year, we are honoring local community member Joe Bloecker as the 63rd Grand Marshal. Keep reading to learn more about his love for Montauk and the Montauk Friends of Erin!
Hi Joe! For those who may not know, can you share a bit about who you are?
How did you end up in Montauk?
I moved to Montauk in 1976, right out of high school at 17 years old. Got a job working for Captain Lester Behan here on the Peconic Queen. Then I moved into commercial fishing. I did that–I worked on a boat called the Mystic Way for about 10 years or so. Then in 1985-86, I went to work for Foster O’Brien Construction Company and started waiting tables at night. I did that for about eight years ’til I learned the construction business and then I opened my own company. I did that for 35 years, I have my own home improvement company.
Today, Joe keeps busy as a professional driver and operates a small airport driving business across Long Island. He is a proud father and grandfather, and still keeps busy with his community volunteer work.
You’ve been involved in our East End communities for so long. Can you share more about your involvement in the Montauk community?
As far as my volunteer work, I joined the Friends of Erin 32 years ago. I also ran for public office and I won three times as a Town Trustee–I served six years. I was the Montauk Little League coach for 37 years. I was a member of the East Hampton Town Cancer Task Force. I was a founding member of the Nature Preserve Committee. I started the Montauk Grand Slam Fishing Tournament and the Montauk Seafood Festival. I’ve spent a lot of time opening clams at the Fall Festival for the Chamber for many years. And what else…?
“What else?” That’s a lot! We know that the Friends of Erin host the Parade each year, but what else does the organization do?
The Friends of Erin is a good organization, and we’re a good organization for our town because we’re not part of a national [chapter] like the Lions Club or the Knights of Columbus or something like that–we’re just in Montauk. So the money we raise, we can do pretty much what we want with it. What we do is, we spend it on the Montauk community, mostly the kids. We sponsor little league teams, softball teams; we sponsor the soccer team. We have $5000 worth of scholarships for two high school graduates from Montauk. One is a mechanical scholarship and the other one an educational scholarship that can go towards their college. The Montauk Friends of Erin do an awful lot of quiet charity work in Montauk. I mean, we’ve paid for funerals, we see somebody down and out we send them some bucks, you know, that kind of stuff. We donate to the Montauk Food Pantry. We’ll donate to just about everybody that asks.
And in order to do all of that amazing charity work, the Friends of Erin need visibility and support–hence, the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Can you tell us a little bit about what the St. Patrick’s Day Parade means to you?
The parade started in 1962, so it’s been around for over 60 years now. It’s not only a tradition, it’s the opening of the season in Montauk. All the businesses open for it, it gives them a start to get their spring work on the restaurants and hotels done. We draw a lot of people here. People make a lot of money that weekend. Unfortunately, it is weather dependent. That’s why we moved the start of the parade back to later in March now because the weather is so much better from the middle of March through the end of March. Hoping for clear weather this year!
Lastly, what do you love most about Montauk?
You can make a living doing anything you want to do out here. It is such a close, tight-knit community. Anytime something bad happens, the whole town comes out to help. It’s a great place to raise kids. You’ve got a lot of good, natural stuff to do be it fishing, hunting, golfing. As a guy who drives for a living now, I drive Uber and I also have my little airport business–I’m all over Long Island and I can tell you, there are places with bigger and nicer houses and there are places with more wealthy people. But Montauk is, by far, the nicest place to live on Long Island. It’s the truth.
