The colorful 63rd annual Norwegian-American 17th of May Parade which commemorates the 201st anniversary of the signing of Norway’s constitution takes place on Sunday, May 17 at 1:30 p.m.
The parade route along Third Avenue starts at 80th Street and then swings up 69th Street to Fifth Avenue over to 67th Street to Sixth Avenue in Leif Ericson Park. This year’s parade theme is, “Celebrate 1,000 years of Christianity.”
At the post-parade ceremonies at the Reviewing Stand, Jon Forrest Dohlin, director of the New York Aquarium and a vice president with the Wildlife Conservation Society, will be the main speaker. Barbara Berntsen is the chair of the Norwegian-American 17th of May Committee of Greater New York, sponsors of the Parade, and Alf Rasmussen is the 2015 parade chair.
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Our congratulations to former Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan on his May 5 election victory. Donovan is the new member of Congress representing the 11th Congressional District.
While Donovan is off to Washington, Brooklyn City Councilmember Vinnie Gentile will continue his duties as one of the deputy majority leaders at the City Council, and chair of the Council Investigations’ Committee. To his credit, Gentile did win the Brooklyn side of the congressional district.
While I’m sure Gentile is not happy about losing, it just may be a blessing in disguise to his constituents and many others. As a result of his long Council tenure, he has become pretty adept at manipulating the levers of municipal government.
Hopefully, he will have a strong voice in the City Council to oppose the decriminalization of quality-of-life crimes like jumping subway turnstiles and urinating in public, as well as lending strong support for additional direly-needed new police officers!
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World War II Navy veteran, patriot and Bay Ridgeite Howie Dunn has been named the grand marshal of Brooklyn’s 148th annual Memorial Day Parade. The parade takes place on Monday, May 25, at 11 a.m.
Sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen from Fleet Week will be joining the line of march. Veterans of all wars and campaigns are urged to march. You don’t have to be affiliated with a formal group or chapter to march. If you need additional information, call 347-907-9547.
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Baseball historian, author and journalist Andrew Mele will be talking about the Brooklyn Dodgers on Wednesday, May 20, at the monthly meeting of the Bay Ridge Historical Society. He will also be projecting photos of some Dodger greats like Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese from his new book, Tearin’ Up the Pea Patch.
The meeting gets underway at 7:30 p.m., at the Shore Hill Neighborhood Center, 91st Street between Colonial Road and Shore Road.
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