Parades
| 12 May 2026 | 01:03
Waiting for NYC Pride Parade outside Stonewall National Monument. (
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Israel Day parade including politicians Letitia James, Dan Goldman, Julie Menin, Tom DiNapoli, others. (
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Independence Day Parade in Lower Manhattan with Marquis de Lafayette, July 4, 2025. (
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Governor Hochul and other dignitaries at the Dominican Day Parade. (
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Israel Day on Fifth
Sunday May 31, Fifth Avenue, 62nd to 74th Streets
Popularly known as the Israel Day Parade this immense—and lately, immensely emotional and controversial—event bounces around the calendar from mid-May to early June and therefore often misses the Summer Guide deadline. The sun and moon having aligned just right, the theme of this year’s event is “Proud Americans, Proud Zionists.” Mayor Mamdani is highly unlikely to attend this Israel parade, others almost certainly will, including Governor Kathy Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James, Council Speaker Julie Menin, Comptroller Mark Levine, Council Member Gale Brewer and many more. NYPD and other security will be very robust. Blue and white will abound, with Israel-themed rainbow flags adding gay pride colors. There might be protests on the margins.
Philippines Independence Day Parade
Sunday June 7, Madison Avenue, 38th to 27th Streets
If all formal Manhattan Parades are excellent parades by definition, it’s likewise true that not all parades are treated equally. Few people will admit this but there is a general hierarchy of parades based on their size, locale and the political power of its participants. This isn’t really nefarious but simple reality—and it explains why so many wonderful events on Madison Avenue get little attention from the press or politicians. There are exceptions: Mayor Mamdani attended this year’s Sikh Day Parade, and last year Mayor Adams and Senator Schumer turned up at the Nepal Day Parade, but don’t be shocked if no bold-faced names come to this year’s Philippines Independence Day Parade. If this happens, it will be their loss, for float for float, costume for costume, there’s no greater street celebration than that put on by the passionate, dazzlingly diverse and patriotic Filipinos. Philippine Independence Day’s historic date is June 12, 1898, when the nation declared its independence from Spain. New York’s parade is held the first Sunday in June because the following Sunday is reserved for the giant Puerto Rican Day Parade on Fifth Avenue. Pick Snack Hit: halo-halo, the renowned national dessert made of shaved ice, milk, and fruit.
Heritage of Pride Parade
Sunday, June 28, Madison Square Park to Stonewall
Popularly known as the Gay Pride Parade, this downtown event has been a highlight of the early summer calendar for decades. If you just want to celebrate, as the Kool & the Gang song goes, and have a good time, fantastic! Put on your best parade clothes, rainbow or otherwise, it will be joyous spectacle for sure. If, however, one takes the politics of Pride as seriously as the event’s organizer appears to do, things get complicated.
Independence Day Parade
Saturday, July 4, starting at Castle Clinton, Battery Park
www.historiclowermanhattan.org
A staple of small town and city America, there are July 4 parades in Gotham also, including one that’s been organized by the Lower Manhattan Historical Association since 2015. The idea wasn’t new: Independence Day Parades were held in Manhattan for much of the 19th and 20th centuries but between the Vietnam War and President Nixon, the tradition withered. Happily revived, the event has even more resonance in this year of the U.S. Semiquincentennial—the celebration of which was commissioned by President Obama in July 2016. The parade begins in Battery Park, near where the city itself began as New Amsterdam, inside the Castle Clinton National Monument, formerly known as Castle Garden, which served as US immigration processing depot from 1855 to 1890. Last year’s event featured a remarkable speech from a Marquis de Lafayette reenactor, with New York State Assemblyman Charles Fall, the son of immigrants from Guinea, West Africa, as Grand Marshal, serving as Grand Marshal. Also wending their way through the canyons of Wall Street, past Federal Hall and onto Fraunces Tavern were the mostly Black teenagers of the Factor Marching Band; NYPD bagpipers; Chinese-American veterans from the Kimlau American Legion Post of Chinatown—proud patriots all.
Dominican Day Parade
Sunday August 9, Sixth Avenue, 36th to 52nd Streets
The summer’s other major Hispanic parade, the 44th annual Dominican Day Parade is another can’t miss event for lovers of the red, white, blue. A celebration of Dominican culture generally (as opposed to any specific date in history), the event is notable for its size, exuberance and decibel level— indeed, thanks to the power of amplification, it might be the loudest of all Manhattan parades, which is no small feat! Not that anyone’s complaining (and you probably couldn’t hear them if you could.) Last year’s event was notable for the appearance of then Democratic Mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, who stood respectfullay among Dominican-American politicians like downtown Council Member Christopher Marte and other dignitaries. For those who want to keep the party going, head up to heavily Dominican neighborhood of Washington Heights, where celebrations continue through the evening.