Mayor Bill de Blasio won’t be marching in the big St. Patrick’s Day parade in Manhattan, but he is marching in the parade called “St. Pat’s For All” Sunday in Queens.
The parade in Sunnyside may not be as big, or have as much tradition, as the parade up Fifth Avenue on St. Patrick’s Day, but it does have the participation of the mayor and other top city elected officials who will be boycotting the Manhattan parade.
It will be the first time in 20 years that the mayor does not march in the Manhattan St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
The boycott is over the Manhattan parade’s long-standing policy of excluding gay groups.
In contrast, the “St. Pat’s for All” parade is open and welcome to all New Yorkers, drawing a large contingent of LGBT paradegoers.
Organizers say that the event is the city’s most diverse St. Patrick’s Day parade.
“Everyone knows that this St. Patrick’s Day parade is all-inclusive to everybody, and that’s why it’s important,” said one person. “But it’s really a celebration of Irish culture, of the Irish people, and that’s what St. Patrick’s Day is about. That’s what it originally was about.”
“I like coming to this parade because there’s many different groups that I don’t normally see,” said another. “You’ll see as the parade goes on, there’s some Mexican cultures, there’s people in these beautiful dresses and they’re dancing, and so this parade is particularly a lot more fun to see.”
City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito is also expected to march in the parade, as will the Irish consul general.
Former state Senator Tom Duane, who was the only openly gay member of the state Senate for a long time, will serve as one of the grand marshals of the parade.
The parade begins at 2 p.m.
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