The Federation of Italian American Organizations of Brooklyn (FIAO) announced that its 42nd annual Brooklyn Columbus Day Parade will take place Saturday, Oct. 12 at 1 p.m. This is the exact day of the month, 532 years earlier in 1492, when Italian navigator Christopher Columbus, on his first voyage, landed on the island of San Salvatore, resulting in the discovery of the New World.
The parade also celebrates the Italian heritage of thousands of Brooklynites, as the march moves along Cristoforo Colombo Boulevard, better known as 18th Avenue, from 61st Street to Benson Avenue, and the site of the reviewing stand, in front of the El Centro community center building.
Four grand marshals have been tapped to lead the march: City Councilman David Carr, chairman of the council’s Italian Caucus; Dr. David Pretto, superintendent of Community School District 20; attorney Joseph Rosato, president of the Brooklyn Bar Association, and Chiara Spagnolo, principal of P.S. 100.
Attorney Carlo Scissura, FIAO president, will be back in his traditional role as the parade emcee. G. Jack Spatola, FIAO chairman, also serves as the executive parade chairman.
The parade committee will hold a Columbus Day Parade fund-raising brunch on Sunday, Oct. 6 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the El Caribe Country Club, 5945 Strickland Ave. Individual tickets are $200 and a table for 10 is $2,000. Click on FIAOBrooklyn.org to pay by credit card.
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Professor Stephen Rolandi, a noted historian and former program consultant at the New-York Historical Society, was the guest speaker at the September meeting of the Bay Ridge Historical Society. His presentation was, “New York City and the Fiscal Crisis of the 1970s, When New Yorkers Pulled Together to Avert Disaster.”
Rolandi spoke about the key roles Gov. Hugh Carey, Mayors Abraham Beame and Edward Koch, investment banker Felix Rohatyn and others played to save the city from bankruptcy. Tom McCarthy is the current president of the Bay Ridge Historical Society, which was founded in 1976. Among the former presidents is State Sen. Andrew Gounardes.
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David Allen Peters, New York state history chairman of the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, will be the guest speaker at the Oct. 2 monthly meeting of the Society of Old Brooklynites, at 6:30 p.m. in Brooklyn Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon St. Peters’ topic will be the Kings County Militia, Battle of Brooklyn and the British Occupation. Admission is free and the society’s meetings are open to the public.
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