Dan McGowan has a shameful secret.  He’s Scottish.  His options for green clothing to wear in the parade are a Celtic FC jersey (which wouldn’t be very Irish), or a Boston Celtics jersey (which, as a life-long New York Knicks fan, he would never consider). He’s sorry about that.

Now that we got that out of the way, Dan is a Rhode Island-based columnist for the Boston Globe, where he enjoys agitating the state’s political class and finding as many creative ways as possible to sneak on to the most elite golf courses and shoot 95.  He also writes a popular daily newsletter called Rhode Map.

He previously covered Providence City Hall for six years at Channel 12, where he was part of a team that won a New England Emmy Award for its investigation into a politician doing scandalous things politicians sometimes do in our lovely state.  Just ask him about it.  He also played on the company kickball team.

Dan grew up in Connecticut, but believes he officially became a Rhode Islander when he was named grand marshal of the parade.  He lives in Providence with his wonderful partner, Nora Crowley, and their beautiful son, Jack.  They’re working hard to make sure Jack’s first words are, “Patrick’s Pub.”

Back to the whole Scottish thing.  It’s true.  Dan’s dad grew up in Glasgow, but moved to the US as a teenager, where he hated American sports unless he was watching his son play them.  He loved nothing more than bragging about Dan and Dan’s older sister, Lauren, who lives in Seattle and works to ensure everyone always has roof over their heads.

When Dan isn’t chasing scoops, he has the career coaching wins record for 8-year-old baseball at Mount Pleasant Little League in Providence.  He already racked up the most losses in league history in his 15 years as a coach, but that’s a different story.

Dan is so honored to be the 2024 grand marshal.  He hopes you’ll adopt him as an Irishman the way you’ve allowed him to become a real Rhode Islander.