Brooklyn’s 112th American Independence Day Parade which is sponsored by the Long Island Assembly of the Knights of Columbus steps out on this coming Saturday, at 10 a.m. The parade route is along Court Street from Bergen to Luquer Street.
This year’s march is dedicated in fond memory and honor of NYPD Detective Steven McDonald who after being paralyzed for over 30 years, died of a massive heart attack on January 10, 2017. Back in 1986, he was shot three times in Central Park by a teenager who he later forgave. This past November, McDonald at the invitation of St. Patrick’s Catholic Academy in Bay Ridge, addressed the older students in their auditorium discussing safety, bullying, forgiveness, peace, and respect for parents and one another.
Just prior to the start of the Independence Day parade, a service and ceremony with Brooklyn Bishop Raymond Chappetto, the vicar general of the Catholic Diocese, will be held inside St. Paul’s Church, at Congress Street. Here, McDonald will receive the Assembly’s Pro-patria (Patriot) Award posthumously to be accepted by Steve’s wife, Patricia Ann McDonald. Then NYPD Sergeant Conor McDonald, Steve’s son will lead the parade as the 2017 Grand Marshal.
On Flag Day, June 15 we had a chance to view and snap a few photos of the annual New York City Flag Day Parade which starts out from City Hall Park and goes to Fraunces Tavern Museum at Pearl and Broad Streets. This colorful, patriotic march is hosted by the Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York. It was a thrill to see hundreds of grammar school age students carrying small American flags turning parts of Broadway in lower Manhattan to a boulevard of red, white and blue!
Among the groups providing musical accompaniment were the Fifes and Drums of the Old Barracks, the NYC Sanitation Department Emerald Society Pipes and Drums, and the Hearts of Oak Independent Militia Company.
May her memory be a blessing 
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