Flag Day Parade Scheduled For June 9
The Stars and Stripes will be celebrated once more on the streets of Sunnyside next Saturday, June 9, as the community will hold its annual Flag Day Parade.
All are invited to participate or watch the march, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Sunnyside and Woodside, which is scheduled to take place beginning at 11 a.m. at the corner of Greenpoint Avenue and 41st Street.
Marchers, musicians, lawmakers, students and a host of other participants- many of whom will be bearing Old Glory-will walk east along Greenpoint Avenue to 48th Street. The parade will then conclude with a memorial ceremony at Sabba Park, located at the corner of Queens Boulevard and 50th Street.
The march will take place five days before the actual observance of Flag Day on Thursday, June 14, a national holiday which marks the date on which the Continental Congress approved the design of the American flag in 1777.
Originally proclaimed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916, the holiday was officially recognized in a bill signed by President Harry Truman in 1949.
Sunnyside is one of only a few communities across the U.S. which celebrates Flag Day with a parade. The first march took place in 1969 and served as the neighborhood’s post-Memorial Day tribute to veterans.
Past Sunnyside Flag Day Parades have featured a host of marching bands, and this year’s march figures to be no different. Among those scheduled to participate is the Sunnyside Drum Corps, the local percussion group which will be marking its 35th consecutive year of participation in the parade.
Various local elected officials, community groups and schools are also scheduled to participate in next Saturday’s parade.
For additional information on the march, call the Sunnyside Kiwanis Club at 1-718-784-2468.
