Westchester DA Janet DiFiore chats with her former judicial colleague and long time friend Putnam Senior Judge John Sweeny

MAHOPAC — Everyone was a bit Irish in Putnam County on Sunday.

Magnificent spring-like weather welcomed more than 5,000 marchers and an additional 5,000 bystanders to Mahopac when Putnam County hosted its 33rd annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

The parade is hosted each year by six organizations — the Emerald Association of Putnam County, the Carmel Knights of Columbus, Westchester-Putnam Gaelic Football Association, Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, Irish-American Social Club of Yorktown and the Driscoll Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police.

This year, the police organization was asked to select a grand marshal and the men in blue chose Leticia and Ann Driscoll of Lake Carmel, mother and wife of 9-11 hero Stephen Driscoll, who perished while entering the World Trade Center in Manhattan on that fateful September morning in 2001 while attempting to save others. Driscoll was a member of the New York Police Department’s elite Emergency Services Unit.

Letitia Driscoll looked at the large throng of humanity gathered along the parade route and said, “The Good Lord is looking down on us today. The sun is shining which has brought smiles to all our faces.”

Ann Driscoll said her late husband was responsible for the marvelous weather. “Steve wouldn’t have had it any other way. The weather today is brilliant as the saying goes in Ireland.”

Nearly 100 units that included pipe bands, fife and drum corps and community groups marched with pride along Route 6 from Mt. Hope Road to the Lake Plaza Shopping Center during the two mile-long processional.