Even if there are fewer Irish immigrants coming into Queens these days, most locals will be "Irish" on St. Patrick's Day.
In fact, here, in the borough, the festivities have already begun.
On Saturday, leprechauns scampered by bagpipe bands as New York State's second largest St. Patrick's Day parade struck out through the thickly Irish communities of Belle Harbor and Rockaway Park.
The street theatrics continued in Sunday's St. Patrick's Day parade in Woodside and Sunnyside, the traditional heart of the city's Irish populace.
"This is a heavily Irish community," said Luke Adams of the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce.
"We lost a lot of people," Adams said of second- and third-generation Irish-Americans who have moved to the suburbs — and even back to Ireland. "But, now there is a new generation; we're getting the new Irish now."
The number Irish immigrants in Queens has dropped in recent years. In 2005, fewer than 80,000 people identifying themselves as Irish and Irish-Americans were living in Queens, compared to nearly 100,000 25 years ago, according to 2000 census figures.
The number of undocumented Irish in the borough and the city is believed to be considerable and some immigrant groups believe the numbers may be higher than reported.
Of the estimated 50,000 undocumented Irish in the U.S., half are believed to be in New York, said Emerald Isle Immigration Center of New York head Siobhan Dennehy.
"For the first time, we have people coming over and we also have lots going back," said Brian O'Dwyer, a lawyer with deep roots in the city's Irish past. (His father Paul served as president of the City Council; his uncle William was once the city's mayor.)
But the days of the Irish hold on city politics are over.
"I'm the last Irish Democratic member of the House of Representatives from New York City," said Queens and Bronx Rep. Joseph Crowley after listing a galaxy of famous politicians, inuding the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
One reason for the Irish exodus from New York, which began about a decade ago, is Ireland's booming economy. Another is the crackdown on illegal immigrants since 9/11.
Danny Moloney, owner of Liffey Van Lines, a moving company that ships to Ireland, said his business is booming. "Last year was probably our busiest year," he said.
Even so, new immigrants are coming, many of them construction and pub workers. They are moving to traditionally Irish communities, from Sunnyside and Woodside to the Rockaways, but also to Maspeth and Astoria.
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With 6,300 Irish and Irish-American residents, Woodside has the largest local population, according to 2000 Census figures.
Sunnyside is home to the Butcher's Block, one of the city's best Irish specialty markets. And the shamrocks people used to place above their front doors can still be spotted along 48th St.
The Breezy Point enclave on the Rockaway peninsula is 53% Irish and nearby Rockaway Park is 33% Irish, according to 2005 Census figures.
Of Queens' early St. Patrick's Day parades, Geoff Rawling, head of the Rockaway Artists Alliance, said: "We like to start early so we can keep drinking through St. Patrick's Day."
Also in the Rockaways — which was known in the 1950s as "the Irish Riviera" — Belle Harbor's house parties, which for years have drawn the city's top politicians, swung into the evening Saturday.
Adams noted that even Long Island City's Church of St. Raphael, which has a largely Hispanic congregation, brims with Irish parishioners on March 17. "Everyone," he said, "comes back for St. Patrick."
SAINT