New Poem: Pioneer Valley's Emerald Crowns

This poem honors the western Massachusetts Grand Colleen tradition as a living act of regional memory. Town by town, the Pioneer Valley sends its daughters forward to Holyoke, not for spectacle, but to carry continuity, dignity, and place into the Saint Patrick’s Day parade. It is a portrait of geography, community, and shared stewardship, where history walks beside the present.

Pioneer Valley's Emerald Crowns

In the year of twenty-six, when the shamrocks bloom once more,

From Holyoke's old canals to the hills beyond the shore,

Every town in western Mass has named its Colleen fair,

To lead the Saint Patrick's march with flowers in their hair.

Chicopee sends her daughter by the river's steady flow,

Westfield brings her own from where the mountain breezes blow,

Northampton's lass steps lively down the streets of brick and stone,

Amherst crowns her scholar with the ivy overgrown.

Greenfield calls her maiden from the meadows rich and wide,

Pittsfield lifts her daughter where the Berkshires rise with pride,

South Hadley, Easthampton, Longmeadow in their turn,

Send their fairest forward for the green to brightly burn.

With sashes tied in emerald, crowns of shamrock bright and true,

They walk the Holyoke pavement where the crowds are gathered new,

The daughters of the old country, the blood of Erin strong,

Marching proud together in the parade so long.

From Agawam to Ware, from Palmer down to Lee,

Each valley town has chosen one to set the spirit free,

Their eyes are bright as morning, their laughter clear and high,

They carry all the beauty of the western Massachusetts sky.

The drums beat out the rhythm, the pipes begin to wail,

The banners wave above them like the green upon the gale,

Through the streets of Holyoke where the paper mills once stood,

These Colleens of twenty-six are marching for the good.

They pass the old cathedral, the bridges arched and high,

The factories now quiet beneath the winter sky,

Yet on this day in March the city comes alive again,

With every Colleen smiling, the past and future blend.

So sing their names in honor from Deerfield to the south,

From Shelburne Falls to Hadley, from the river to the mouth,

The Pioneer Valley's daughters, crowned and standing tall,

Lead the Saint Patrick's glory down the streets for one and all.

In twenty-six they gather, the fairest of the land,

A chain of western emerald held fast by loving hand,

And when the last note echoes and the sun begins to fade,

Their memory lingers softly in the green parade.