There’s still time to register for the Ragamuffin Parade

It’s once again that happy-go-lucky tradition, as thousands of youngsters dressed in homemade and store-bought customs hop, skip, frolic, dance and march.

The 59th annual Bay Ridge Ragamuffin Parade along Third Avenue from 76th Street to 92nd Street kicks off at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27. Leading the colorful kiddy extravaganza this year are Grand Marshals Bobby Daquara and John Keegan, proprietors of the Greenhouse Café, plus the Ragamuffin “Man of the Year,” Capt. John Dasaro, commanding officer of the 68th Precinct.

If your child has not received a Ragamuffin parade application from their school, 11th-hour registration will take place between 11 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. in the Our Lady of Angels Church parking lot on 74th Street, just off Third Avenue. Costume judging will also take place here during the same time period. Each child who is registered and completes the parade route and enters the Citizens Bank parking lot at 9201 Third Ave. will receive a gift. Top costume winners will receive shiny new bikes. The parade assembles at 12:30 p.m. on 76th Street between Third and Fourth avenues.

The grand marshals and the man of the year were honored  at a fund-raising, pre-parade luncheon on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 14, at the Greenhouse Café, sponsored by the Parade Committee. Ragamuffin President Allison Hope Greaker presented plaques to the honorees, who were then pinned with sashes.

This year’s committee members included Shirley Chin, Sheila Doherty, Esme Elisson, Marianne Fezza, Elizabeth Gatti, Kelly Kilbride, Kathy O’Donnell and Ilene Sacco, and Ragamuffin officers Ted General and Chuck Otey.

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Sept. 19 marked the 46th annual commemoration of POW/MIA Recognition Day. This somber event has been held each year to honor members of the U.S. Armed Forces who have been captured as prisoners of war or are missing in action. According to government records there are still 82,468 missing in action from all the wars since World War II.

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Since Fort Hamilton’s Harbor Defense Museum is still sitting on the Army’s Center for Military History closure list, more pressure for support to save the museum came from Community Board 10. It’s the only museum located on the base and within the confines of the board. Board Chairman Sandy Vallas read a resolution opposing the closure and it was passed and adopted unanimously.  Copies of the resolution and an accompanying letter of support were sent to the Army’s CMH in Washington, D.C., U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis and other officials.