ABSTRACT
New Yorkers are great fans of public celebrations and parades. Every year, the city hosts hundreds of parades, street fairs, block parties, ethnic and religious festivals, and special events. Several parades are unique to the city: first is the Easter Parade-an informal procession that starts around noon every Easter Sunday on Fifth Avenue. Thousands of New Yorkers, many of them wearing elaborate homemade hats, come out to mill around and admire one another’s costumes. Also unique to New York is the “ticker-tape parade,” a tradition created spontaneously by Wall Street workers in 1886 to mark the dedication of the Statue of Liberty. Later events, such as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, and the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, have become annual New York rituals.
