High Tide

We’ve turned the corner to March! Happy Rockaway St. Patrick’s Day to all—get your green ready! The Rockaway St. Patrick’s Day Parade will step off this Saturday, March 7, at 1 p.m., with festivities continuing throughout the peninsula. It’s always a great day in Rockaway. Thank you to everyone who makes it possible, and congratulations to this year’s honorees!

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Speaking of Irish events, the Ancient Order of Hibernians Division 21 has announced that the Irish Festival at St. Camillus is on! There were some questions about the future of the event after it was announced that St. Camillus would close at the end of 2025. But as of now, the church remains open, and the Irish Festival has been scheduled for June 6 and June 7.

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Unfortunately, the March 6 event at the Rockaway Hotel featuring Andy Cooney, which we featured last week, has been cancelled due to insufficient ticket sales. The March 7 events are on.

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As we all know, Rockaway St. Patrick’s Day is the unofficial start of spring around here—but it really begins to feel like the tide is turning with daylight saving time, which also arrives this week. We may lose an hour of sleep when the clocks move forward, but that extra hour of evening sunlight is well worth it. The change happens Saturday night (technically Sunday morning) at 2 a.m., so don’t forget to set your clocks ahead.

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Advertiser Alert! With the snow finally melting and warmer weather on the horizon, it’s time to start thinking about The Rockaway Times Summer & Community Guide! Back by popular demand, the Summer Guide returns for its twelfth year. Time flies—so start planning your ad now. Summer will be here before we know it.

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The next Community Board 14 meeting will take place on Tuesday, March 10, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., at the Knights of Columbus (333 Beach 90th Street). Anyone wishing to speak must sign in at the venue prior to the start of the meeting.

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Our thoughts and prayers are with our troops around the world. We especially pray for those serving in the Middle East and for peace in the region.

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You may have heard helicopters overhead late Saturday afternoon. A woman walking on the jetty between Beach 106th and Beach 107th Streets slipped and fell into the water. A passerby rushed in to help her. Both required assistance from others on the beach and were treated at the scene. Job well done to everyone involved in the rescue. This serves as an important reminder to stay off the jetties—the rocks can be slippery and dangerous. Thankfully, there were people nearby to help.

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Congratulation to District 31 Assemblyman Khaleel Anderson on his engagement! At his recent State of the District address on February 27, Anderson announced that he had proposed to his love, Kalima Johnson, earlier this year, and she said yes!

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Submissions for the 2026 Rockaway Times Photo Contest continue to roll in—keep them coming! To be eligible, photos must be emailed to Contest@RockawayTimes.com. We will continue running our regular Local Color pages, but those photos should be sent to Mail@RockawayTimes.com. For more details, see page 35.

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We continue to pray for Maureen Hayes, Assistant Principal of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Academy, and for her continued healing.

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If you want to make sure you receive The Rockaway Times, we email the entire paper every Thursday to more than 4,300 subscribers. It’s fast (8:30 a.m. Thursday mornings) and free. Drop us a note at Mail@RockawayTimes.com and we’ll add you to our list.