Bay Ridge

Half a century of celebration: Ragamuffin kiddie march, 3rd Ave. Fair on tap

Ragamuffin kiddie march, 3 Ave. fair on tap

October 10, 2017 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Kids who take part in the annual Ragamuffin Parade always seem to come up with clever costumes to wear. Eagle file photos by Paula Katinas
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Get ready Brooklyn, because a great weekend is coming your way! Grab hold of it and enjoy!

Bay Ridge will be the best place in all of New York City this weekend as it hosts two of the most popular events on Brooklyn’s fall calendar, the 51st Annual Ragamuffin Parade and the 44th Annual Third Avenue Festival.

The Ragamuffin Parade, a gigantic march that features thousands of children dressed as pirates, princesses and popes, is the first event of the weekend.

The parade will take place on Saturday, Oct. 14, on Third Avenue, starting at 1 p.m.

The children are also marching for the chance to win prizes. The parade features a costume contest. A panel of judges will decide which children are wearing the most creative homemade costumes and will award prizes to the kids.

Third Avenue is also the setting for the Third Avenue Festival, which will take place the next day, Sunday, Oct. 15.

Hundreds of thousands of visitors are expected to turn out for the festival, a giant street fair that will open at 10 a.m. and offer numerous delights along the avenue from Bay Ridge Avenue all the way to 94th Street until closing time at 6 p.m.

The parade and the festival serve as bookends to a delightful weekend of fun, food and festivities that highlight the wonders of Bay Ridge.

The Ragamuffin Parade is sponsored every year by Ragamuffin Inc., a non-profit organization composed of Bay Ridge’s civic and business leaders headed by President Arlene Keating.

Keating presided over a luncheon at the Bay Ridge Manor catering hall on Oct. 1 at which the parade organizers paid tribute to this year’s grand marshal, the Rev. Msgr. Kevin Noone, pastor of Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church, and Ragamuffin Man of the Year Raymond Aalbue, a military veteran who is one of the main organizers of the Kings Country Memorial Day Parade.

Noone and Aalbue will be leading the way as the participants march up Third Avenue on Oct. 14.

On Oct. 15, the Third Avenue Festival, a 25-block-long street fair with rides, games, concerts, dance performances, outdoor cafes, fashion shows, sidewalk sales and lots more, will take place.

The festival is sponsored by the Merchants of Third Avenue, a business organization representing hundreds of store owners on the avenue. Third Avenue is one of the busiest shopping thoroughfares in Brooklyn.

The festival provides a great opportunity for store owners to meet new customers and present their shops in a positive light, according to leaders of the Merchants.

There will be sidewalk cafes on nearly every block on festival day and visitors can take a trip around the world via their culinary tastes. Restaurants will be serving Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Middle Eastern and other dishes. There will also be concert stages set up at various points along the festival route where rock bands, church choirs, theater companies and dancers will perform all afternoon.

 

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