Celebrate America’s birth at parade this Sunday

July 1, 2022 Theodore W. General

Girls wave the red, white and blue at a previous Independence Day Parade.

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After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Brooklyn American Independence Day Parade will again be front and center.

The march, which will take place in Sunset Park for the first time, commemorates the 246th birthday of America and salutes our nation’s armed services. It’s hosted by the patriotic wing of the Brooklyn-based Long Island Assembly of the Knights of Columbus.

Parade organizers are encouraging local community, youth, church, veterans and fraternal groups to join the line of march. Led by the NYPD’s ceremonial Color Guard and Marching Band, the parade kicks off at 11 a.m. on Sunday, July 3 and proceeds along Fifth Avenue from 60th to 43rd Street.

Revolutionary War reenactor Norman Corben in a previous parade. Eagle Urban Media file photos

Frank Siller, the founder and CEO of the renowned Tunnel to Towers Foundation, is the grand marshal. Recently retired Auxiliary Bishop Paul Sanchez, a former pastor of Sunset Park’s St. Agatha’s Church, will receive the parade group’s prestigious Pro-Patria Award. Prior recipients include Frank Seddio, Rev. Robert Romano, Ed Wilkinson, Bishop Thomas Daily, Msgr. David Cassato, U.S. Rep. Guy Molinari, Msgr. Jamie Gigantiello, Marty Golden, and NYPD Det. Steven McDonald (posthumously).

The parade is the oldest Independence Day march in New York City. It was first held on Prospect Park West in Park Slope, then moved to Bay Ridge for 13 years, Dyker Heights for a couple of years and Court Street in Carroll Gardens for three years.

Retired NYPD Lt. Sean Flanagan, a bagpiper with the Emerald Society Pipe and Drum Corps, is the parade chairman. Edgar Perez is the leader of the Long Island Assembly.