July 4 Parade Thrills Lower Manhattan History Lovers, Tourists Too

While the heatwave baked city sweated and lesser cities kvetched—oh, it’s too hot!—undaunted New York history lovers, patriots, their friends and allies trod some of Manhattan’s oldest streets to celebrate America during the annual July 4 parade.

Turnout for the event, which is organized by the Lower Manhattan Historical Association (LMHA), was exceptional. Battery Park was filled with semiquincentennial tourists and if not all of them were drawn into Castle Clinton, where the parade flag raising ceremony was held, or onto the Battery Woodland, where further speeches and pageantry unfurled, some were surely intrigued. Why are all these military veterans and Chinese lion dancers here? What’s with all these Spanish flags? Is that Gale Brewer?!

All these questions and more were answered under the welcoming auspices of LMHA co-founder and chair, James Kaplan. In his speech after the flag raising, Kaplan explained the formerly lost tradition of Independence Day parades in Manhattan and how his organization, including LMHA President Ambrose Richardson, sought to change this. The reasons for the parade’s importance are manifold, including the city’s pivotal role in the American Revolution and the nation’s progress after it, including the spot from where he was making his remarks, the one time immigrant depot of Castle Clinton.

”There were thousands and thousands of people coming into New York Harbor” Kaplan explained, and “after 1880, they would see the Statue of Liberty, which gave them great inspiration. They didn’t know, when they came, when it was going to be like... But when they got off the ship, they were asked, ‘Well, what’s your name? Where do you live? Where are you from? Do you have relatives here? Do you have a visa?’”

”And they said okay, sign here, walk through those doors, and then they’d see signs that said, Welcome to America. Welcome to New York, and they knew they had made the right choice to get here because now they were Americans.”

Kaplan further expounded on Independence Day as an immigrants holiday, citing the renowned Tammany Hall politician and Sachem, George Washington Plunkitt (1842-1924), who once observed of long-winded July 4 orations, “Sometimes human nature gets the better of a man in the audience and he begins to nod, but he always wakes up with a hurrah for the Declaration of Independence.”

After this solemn yet inspiring start, the program moved over to The Woodland section of Battery Park, where a podium stood just north of where a giant video screen was showing the Sail4th 250 broadcast which Mayor Zohran Mamdani appeared. Here the parade’s Grand Marshal Gale Brewer gave a brief but passionate speech, noting that Philadelphia and Washington D.C. had canceled their July 4 parades because of the heat but Manhattan hadn’t.

Also speaking was Paula Recart, President of the Battery Park Conservancy, whose enthusiasm for the park is as strikingly unfeigned as her distinct Chilean accent. Coming to the microphone next was M. Begonia Santos, President and CEO of the Queen Sofia Spanish Initiative. Santos was here—as were an abundance of passionate, sharp-dressed Spaniards adorned in the red and yellow colors of their nation’s flag—as part of the America & Spain 250 Initiative.

Although Spain was technically neutral during the Revolutionary War, as an ally of France, who was an ally of the United States, the Spanish-American relationship is a long and intimate one, with a common belief in liberty. Santos’ speech on this theme was both detailed and and wide ranging, and included a knowing reference to the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument in Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn, commemorating the more than 11,000 American men who died on British prison ships anchored in the East River during the war.

If that’s a daunting legacy to live up to, the many hundreds of July 4 parade marchers were up to the task, among them the Excelisior Marching Band; the NYPD Emerald Society Pipes & Drums; the Tai Look Lion Dance Team; New York Choy Fut Lion Dance Team; the members of American Legion Lt. B.R. Kimlau Post 1291; the Sons of the American Revolution, Brooklyn Chapter; the Kiwanis Club for Community Care NYC; and the Chinese American Planning Council.

Leaving Battery Park, the parade route zig-zagged from landmark to landmark, including Bowling Green, the Alexander Hamilton US Custom House, Broad Street, Wall Street, the Federal National Monument and Pearl Street which brought the phalanx of marchers to Fraunces Tavern, where on December 4, 1783, General George Washington bade farewell to his officers: “With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you: I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy, as your former ones have been glorious and honourable.”