The close of Hispanic Heritage Month had the largest celebration of a wide variety of cultural display in the US and possibly the World right on 5th Avenue. For the 56th time, hundreds of marchers representing their national heritage and country displayed colorful and traditional costumes. The vast majority of Spanish speaking countries and Spain came out to exhibit their cultural pride in the form of dance and music. Revelers lined up the parade route from 45th street up to 72nd where they saw friends and family members proudly cheer for their country or wave their flags. In this parade, the first group to march are from the parade committee and their display off all the flags of the Hispanic nations of the Western Hemisphere and Spain. The honorary lead band came from Panama with lots of energy to set the tone for a fun filled day.
In typical form for this parade, the countries representatives appear in alphabetical order with Argentina showing off countryside dancing followed by a float with a band playing tango music for about a dozen dancers blazing their way up 5th Ave. Then a big group made their appearance for plenty of adoring fans. The Bolivians always have some of the best costumes and dances. Leading the various groups were people dressed in devilish masks representing figures from mythology and historical accounts. The Morenales are one part of Bolivian culture and the best boots of any parade in NYC. They were soon followed by the Tinkus dancing a thousand year old ritual dance. Probably the most anticipated group and high energy group are the San Simon Caporales with their snazzy costumes and festive dance.
Costa Rica sent a small section to represent their culture with men in cowboy outfits and women in finely embroidered dresses dancing the handkerchief dance. Chile sent their version of gauchos and a float with hula dancers and stones resembling ancient statues from the Easter Islands. Another large group from Colombia really got the crowd fired up with an exotic native dance with African roots in the song. They were soon followed up by more traditional attire wearing groups but then the house came down when the Comparsas from the Carnival of Barranquilla. They had some crazy costumes and lots of high energy and got the crowd really worked up. A group of traditional cumbia dancers wrapped up this large group of Colombians.
A small group from the Dominican Republic had people dressed up in diablo costumes. Ecuador and El Salvador had some some great outfits. A returning favorite were the Carboneros from El Salvador. Guatemala probably had the show stopper when riders and horses from Los Peres Ranch trotted out. One singer was a dead ringer for the famous deceased singer Vicente Fernandez. The rider sang popular songs to crowd who sang along. It truly was a magical moment on the streets of NYC. Honduras had a popular singer sing his hit from a nicely decorated float. A large group arrived from Mexico with some really detailed costumed dancers representing the Chinelos from the Moreles part of Mexico. A special treat came in the form of a mariachi band on a float. The young musicians were amazing and brought it all to the stage.
Nicaragua had a small group representing their culture and was a good introduction for the large group from Panama. One of the nicest thing s about the Panamanian group is they bring up student marchers from Panama to be part of the huge celebration. Then a huge group of ladies appeared to display traditional dresses in the form of polleras. They were amazing. Then another colorful group of Molas came out to display their beautiful layered clothing. Wrapping up that group was another set of drum and bugle marching bands. Peru had a nice group of dancers and amazing costumes. Puerto Rico had a small group of bomba dancers. Paraguay had a special group of bottle balancing ladies. They were amazing. Venezuela closed out the parade with a lively drum group that went from one side of 5th Ave. to the other to anyone waving a Venezuelan flag and had them dance to the beat. This was truly an amazing display of culture, music and dance to celebrate the life and contributions of Hispanics in New York and the World. This was a parade like no other. Me siento muy orgulloso de mi Cuidad y mi hermanos y hermanas Hispana. (I feel proud of my City and of my Spanish brothers and sisters).
NYC Parade Life 
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