The Easter Parade NYC 2025 is a popular New York tradition of parading in outrageous Easter bonnets on Fifth Avenue on Easter Sunday. Its full name is the Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival.
It’s not really a parade. People walk around randomly on the street. Sunday morning is the quietest time of the week in New York, and The City sleeps more since the pandemic. Midtown is eerily quiet. It’s never this quiet.
Definitely take your camera. One of the joys of the Parade is the incredible creativity of your fellow New Yorkers. You will see many things that make you stop and say “Wow.” It’s good family fun. Kids love it.
And you might as well make your own Easter bonnet. Some groups of friends work a theme together.
Easter Parade NYC 2025
The Easter Parade NYC 2024 is on Fifth Avenue from 49th to 57th St, on Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025 from 10am to 4pm. FREE
New York’s Easter Parade
The tradition dates back to the 1870s. That is why some people walk in period costume. Many create elaborate Easter bonnets. Some of them are way over the top, New York style.
Easter was originally a pagan spring festival. The way we celebrate it today is influenced by the Jewish holiday of Passover and Roman Catholicism, an Italian religion. Easter is the most important Christian holiday. Americans of the United States used to dress up for it. Parading in your Easter finest was something everybody did. Fancy ladies competed with each other with the extravagance of their hats. Americans wore hats until President John F. Kennedy ended the tradition in the 1960s.
Parade Route
The Parade marches on Fifth Avenue between 49th St to 57th St. The main action is in front of St Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue between 50th and 51st St.
Parade Time
The Parade starts around 10 am and can continue until 4 pm, although it tends to wind down around midday.
Marching in the Parade
The Parade is an informal affair. It’s nice if you wear a bonny hat, but anyone can walk in the parade.
The Easter Parade Movie
The Parade was immortalized in “Easter Parade,” a 1948 musical romance starring Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, and Peter Lawford. The movie features classic music by Irving Berlin. Americans of a certain age will remember the theme song’s melody.
Funny, Fred and Judy do some salsa moves in their dance.