Meet the retired carpenter from Queens who will lead NYC St. Patricks Day Parade

Marching in the city’s St.Patrick’s Day parade has been an annual highlight for a retired Queens carpenter for decades — but this year, he’ll be leading the charge.Married grandpa Michael Benn, 75, will be the grand marshal at Monday’s event, an honor he described as “every Irishman’s dream” and a full-circle moment for the son of Limerick.“It’s a culmination of everything in life that you’ve ever dreamed of,” Benn told The Post ahead of this year’s festivities.“It’s an honor of honors.

It’s like hitting the lotto.”Although he’s run the Queens County St.Patrick’s Day parade — more commonly known as the Rockaway St.

Patrick’s Day — for most of its 50-year history, Benn said he never imagined he would one day lead the world’s largest march.Benn humbly described himself as incomparable to his predecessors, including Heineken CEO Maggie Timoney and Michael Dowling, the president and CEO of Northwell Health, who served as the parade’s grand marshals in 2024 and 2017, respectively.But Benn’s deep community roots are what led parade organizers to unanimously vote him in as the 2025 leader.

He works year-round with charities for the community in addition to directing “AN Suil Na Gael TV,” a television show dubbed “the eyes of the Irish” that promotes Irish culture and heritage.St.Patrick’s Day has played a major role in Benn’s life since he was a young boy growing up in Ireland’s city of Limerick — and even kickstarted his romance with his wife.Both Benn’s and his spouse’s families hail from Limerick City, and he and his wife emigrated separately to the Big Apple as teenagers in the 1960s.

In search of the American Dream, Benn’s family was following the mission of his uncle, who tragically died as a third-class passenger on the Titanic when he was just 15.Both families settled in The Bronx, but it was at a St.Patrick’s Day celebration at a Manhattan dance hall where Benn and his wife, Christina, ...