Rains pour down at start of Columbus Day Parade

The start of the 43rd annual Brooklyn Columbus Day Parade on Saturday, Oct. 11, along 18th Avenue from 61st to Benson Avenue, had a wet baptism as  the marching groups and floats moved along the first leg of the parade. However, by the time they reached the reviewing stand in front of the El Centro community center building, the skies had cleared and even some sunshine had pushed through. 

The parade kicked off with a group of NYPD motorcycle cops, NYPD horse-mounted cops and an NYPD color guard. The Grand Marshals were Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, Joseph Paolillo, Sr., founder and owner of the A&S Pork Store; Lorenzo and Antonietta Rizzo, former owner and president of Beaver Construction, and Harry L. D’Onofrio, director of IT and development of D’Onofrio Contractors.

This parade, which highlights Italian customs, heritage and culture  was hosted by the Brooklyn Federation of Italian American Organizations.

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Historically, for several generations, this area of southern Brooklyn has had a large population of Norwegian residents. However, sadly that is no longer true since so many have left and moved away from New York City. Nonetheless, many do return to Bay Ridge to help keep alive the annual Norwegian-American 17th of May Parade, now in its 73rd year. And we met a large group of  Norwegians from as far as North Dakota when we boarded the Circle Line Ship Staten Island at Pier 83 in Manhattan. This special cruise was arranged by the Friends of the Restauration to help celebrate the 200th anniversary of Norwegian immigration to America by greeting the replica Sloop Restauration as it  recreated the 1825 voyage of the original  ship.

While aboard the Circle Line vessel we were able to view the Sloop Restauration as it sailed along the New York Harbor waterways to the Statue of Liberty and then follow her on her return to Pier 16 at the South Street Seaport, where the crew and passengers were greeted by  Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, as thousands were jammed on the pier while the sloop was docking.

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For their recent October meeting, the Bay Ridge Historical Society held its annual showing of vintage photos of a rural Bay Ridge in the 1880s taken on glass negatives  by Samuel Winter Thomas. He was a prominent businessman, landowner and civic leader. The BRHS later had the glass photo plates converted to conventional photography and some pictures from the collection were also published in books the Society had printed.  For more info about the tomes, sign on to BayRidgeHistory.com.

In other business, the Society unanimously passed a resolution in support of and to save Fort Hamilton’s New York Harbor Defense Museum, which still remains on a closure list by the Army’s Center for Military History.

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One of New York State’s oldest Knights of Columbus Councils, which is home-based right here in Dyker Heights, is the Archbishop John Hughes Council No. 481 on the corner of 86th Street and 13th Avenue. This council was founded on Jan. 27, 1900 with their first meetings held in the Odd-fellows Hall at the corner of Benson and 18th avenues. They later relocated to the huge mansion formerly the headquarters for the Dyker Heights Country Club, then the Italian Country Club of Brooklyn and now owned by the Hughes KofC Council.On Sunday, Sept. 28,  the council commemorated its 125th anniversary with a mass at the Shrine Church of St. Bernadette, 8201 13th Ave., and a reception in the main ballroom of their historic building. New York State Council Officer (Advocate ) Robert Graziano of the KofC presented a certificate to Sean Flanagan, the current Hughes Council grand knight.