Tens of Thousands Flock to 5th Ave for Festive Columbus Day Parade

The streets of midtown were an explosion of sounds and colors—the red, white and green of the Italian flag above all—as tens of thousands of participants and spectators converged on 5th Avenue for the annual Columbus Day Parade.

The weather for the event as near ideal, sunny with temperatures in the mid-60s. Security along the route, which stretched from 44th Street up to 77th Street, with some adjacent blocks used as staging area was robust but noticeably less aggressive than last year, when anxiety over the October 7 terror attacks against Israel were high.

As for controversy over the Columbus Day holiday itself, none was evident at the parade and mood was overtly festive. This isn’t to discount the idea of Indigenous People’s Day or recognition of the history of Native America and the Caribbean. Rather, it’s a realistic assessment of what Columbus means—and has meant— to Italians, and Italian-Americans.

Do you know Columbus Park in today’s Chinatown? It used to be Mulberry Bend Park but it was renamed in 1911 to honor the huge and increasingly influential Italian population there. Do you know Columbus Park in downtown Brooklyn? It used to be Borough Hall Park, and the story is similar. One doesn’t have to believe, as Tony Soprano did, “that in this house, Christopher Columbus is a hero” to understand that one cause of historical is not advanced by suppressing another.

This truism is one reason the Columbus Day parade is so festive, and well attended by solons, both those of Italian-American heritage and those who are not. It’s notable too, given that Christopher Columbus was sailing for Spain, that nearly all people selling Italian flags along the parade route were Hispanic women.

Among this year’s notables were New York Governor Kathy Hochul and her line-of-march mate, State Attorney General Letitia James (wearing green Converse All-Stars); the embattled (but don’t stop believing) Mayor Adams, wearing a baseball hat with both the Mets and Yankees logos on it; State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli; Democratic Congressman Tom Suozzi; City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli; and others.

”This [Italian] community means a lot to me,” said Mayor Adams. “Working class people that understand family, faith and the foundation of our city business.”

Among this year’s notable participants were the Columbus Citizen’s Foundation; the Federation of Italian-American Organizations, Inc. of Queens; La Famiglia Cadillac Club including a gorgeous white Eldorado with custom license plate “SONIEBOY”; uncountable hundreds of men and women dressed in Commedia dell’arte costumes; the MTA Police bagpipe band; the Department of Corrections Columbia Association; the FDNY Columbia Association; the New York State Courts Columbia Society; the New York City Vespa Club; and the boys and girls of the Saint Anthony High School Celtic Friars Pipe Band of South Huntington, Long Island, accompanied by three frock-wearing Franciscan Brothers, led by the school’s principal, Brother David Anthony Migliorino, who grew up in Stuyvesant Town.

While all marching bands are a pleasure to see and hear, one musical highlight was a float full of ebullient Italian-American kids jumping as a trio of adults sang “Sweet Caroline”— a 1969 hit not written or sung by an Italian but rather a Jewish kid from Brooklyn, Neil Diamond.