Long Island’s Columbus Day Parade, held in downtown Huntington, exceeded turnout expectations and happened in concurrence with the Long Island Fall Festival at Heckscher State Park this past weekend.
Organized by the Grand Lodge of New York for the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America (OSDIA) districts I and II, the parade honored Grand Marshals are Nancy DiFioreQuinn, OSDIA national president, Mary Naccarato, New York State OSDIA First Lady, Lina Ferrito, New York State OSDIA past first lady, Jill Nicolini, WPIX Ch. 11 traffic reporter.
OSDIA lodges from across the region attended, as did the many marching bands, fraternal organizations, color guards, dance schools, antique cars, SUNY Maritime, and other local community groups.
The parade took place toward the beginning of Italian Heritage month and just a day before the Columbus Day Parade down 5th Avenue – a parade many of the lodges also planned on attending.
“Columbus represents the Italian-American Culture and our heritage,” said Michele Cangiano Ment, president of the OSDIA Grand Lodge of New York. “And, they’re trying to rewrite history and say that he’s a terrible, terrible human, and he had slaves – he did not!
“This county is built on immigrants. We brought over – not just the Italian Americans but all Americans – we brought over our trades, and we were able to build all of this and this beautiful county. We are Americans, but we’re also Italian.“
While no one was protesting the parade, these remarks echoed the sentiments of many attendees cognizant of the contemporary debate over Columbus Day.
“It’s great to see everyone here today at the Christopher Columbus Day parade,” said Senator Mario Mattera. “How important it is, especially me being an Italian-American, to come here – and actually a Golden Lion recipient for Labor Leader of the Year in 2019 – and to sit here and have elected officials that want to do away with Columbus Day …this is for Italian-Americans.”
national 3rd vice president of the OSDIA,
Senator Mario Mattera
The Italian American Political Action Committee endorsed a selection of candidates prior to the start of the parade and in the days leading up to the event. The candidates are a bipartisan collection “sympathetic to the ItalianAmerican community” and include the following local hopefuls:
- Assemblyman Steven Stern
- Senator Mario Mattera
- Babylon Town Councilman Anthony Manetta
- Assemblyman Eric “Ari” Brown
- Nick LaLota, Candidate for Congress
- Huntington Town Councilman Eugene Cook
- Smithtown Clerk Vincent Puleo, Candidate Suffolk County Clerk
- Huntington Councilman Sal Ferro Huntington
- Assemblyman Michael Durso
As of the last census, there are nearly 16 million people of reported Italian Ancestry across the United States, making Italian the fifth most common identifier between American and Polish.
New York has a particularly high concentration of Italian-Americans, adding a personal connection for many of the parade attendees.
