- April 25, 2024
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Those close to Brian Daly knew that if they were going to honor him with a proclamation declaring Jan. 15 Brian Daly Day, it would have to be kept a secret.
BY MATT MENCARINI | STAFF WRITER
There were only five hours left in Brian Daly Day when Brian Daly found out about Brian Daly Day.
And while that may seem disappointing, if Daly had known what the first 19 hours of Jan. 15 actually were, he says he would have avoided the Ormond Beach City Commission meeting, where he was to receive his proclamation.
“Had I known they were doing it,” he said, “I wouldn’t have shown up, honestly.”
And his friends knew that. Daly doesn't like the limelight, they say, and so they were forced to get him there another way.
Daly visited chambers with the intention of honoring the best floats in last month's HOme for the HOlidays parade, which he has organized since 1995. But as he stepped before the commission with his notes, Mayor Ed Kelley cut him off.
“If it were listed on the agenda, he would've walked out of the room,” said Stefan Sibley, a recreation manager with the city’s Leisure Services department.
Sibley said Daly isn’t the type of person to concern himself with accolades. That isn't why he does the things he does for Ormond Beach, he said. Volunteering is his passion.
Leading up to the Jan. 15 meeting, there was a covert operation going on to collect information about Daly’s work with the parade and to bring his daughter, Megan, back to Ormond Beach without him knowing what was happening.
And there was a point when those closest to Daly, including his wife, Cultural Center Coordinator Siobhan Daly, worried he may have started to sense something in the works.
“Stefan asked some questions and that got him suspicious about what was going on,” she said. “And then he forgot about it.”
The Dalys moved to Ormond Beach in 1995, and Brian Daly arrived about a month before the rest of his family. He was encouraged by his brother-in-law to attend a planning meeting for the parade, as a way to network and get to know the locals.
Since taking over as the parade’s chairman a few years later, Daly pushed for the parade to be moved to nighttime, and the participation grew accordingly.
Last year, the parade had 108 entries, and about 55 of those were floats, he said.
When Brian and Siobhan Daly visited the city before moving, Siobhan said they made it a point to watch every parade. But since Brian took over as chairman, they haven’t seen any, she joked. There's too much else to do, such as coordinating all the volunteers and making sure they start on time.
And starting on time is big for Daly.
“We always start on time,” he said. “We’re known for stating on time.”
Daly's planning team, which includes Sibley, who started working on the parade the same year as Daly, plan to get to work organizing and fundraising for this season's parade soon.
