¿KLK? The 44th National Dominican Day Parade 2026 marches Sixth Avenue on Sun, August 9, 2026, celebrating Dominican heritage and contributions to American prosperity with music, floats, and more.
Quisqueyanos valientes, alcemos nuestro canto…”
44th National Dominican Day Parade 2026
The 44th National Dominican Day Parade celebrates Dominican independence, heritage, and contributions to American prosperity with marching bands, floats, and more than 10,000 participants on Sixth Avenue, The Avenue of the Americas.
It’s actually a series of events. The scholarship program for students of Dominican descent is heart of it all.
National Dominican Day Parade Scholarships
2026 information wasn’t posted at press time. The 2025 program went like this:
Get scholarship information at natddp.org
National Dominican Day Parade Gala
Cocktails, dinner, and dancing to live music with community leaders
Greentree Country Club
New Rochelle, Westchester
Fri, August 7, 2026 | 8pm
$600
The Gala is really fun because Dominicans are really fun, and student scholarships are a worthy cause.
The Parade doesn’t just give money. It’s a full mentoring program that connects students with community leaders, internships, and helps them succeed in school. We have a lot of bright kids who deserve the opportunity. Have fun and build your network, while helping deserving young people prosper. They are our Dominican American future.
National Dominican Day Parade
Sixth Avenue, from 37th Street to 55th Street
Midtown Manhattan
Sun, August 9, 2026 | 11am to 4pm
Free
Bring your flag, water, and we recommend earplugs so the chipeos don’t damage your hearing. They are so loud, they can knock the breath out of you as they pass.
Mi Gente. Porfa’ portate bien. El mundo entero está mirando. Si te porta mal, el mundo piensa que todos de nosotros somos malos y hace la vida mas duro por todos. Nuestra gente tienen muchos éxitos en el NYPD. Respectalos. Dominicans adelante juntos como la gente buena que somos en la verdad. ¡Quisqueyanos orgullo!
Midtown Turns Red, White, and Blue for Quisqueya
Every August, Sixth Avenue becomes an extension of Washington Heights as the National Dominican Day Parade brings the largest Dominican celebration in the United States to Midtown Manhattan.
The 44th edition steps off Sunday, August 9, 2026, at 11am, marching Sixth Avenue from 37th Street to 55th Street with marching bands, folkloric dancers, elaborate floats, and more than 10,000 registered participants.
Organized by the Dominican Day Parade, Inc., a nonpartisan nonprofit, the parade commemorates the Restoration War of 1863, the conflict that secured the Dominican Republic’s independence from Spain. We had to fight many times for our independence, but have been free ever since.
Beyond the celebration, the organization has funneled its parade-day visibility into education, having committed more than a million dollars in scholarships to Dominican-descent students across the country since launching the program in 2015. This is what it’s all about actually.
Expect merengue, bachata, and dembow blasting from sound trucks, contingents representing Dominican provinces and hometown clubs, honorees riding in convertibles and on pre-confirmed floats, and a VIP viewing and broadcast area set up near 47th Street. Formation begins at 8am on the side streets around 36th to 38th, with the informational booth stationed at Fifth Avenue and 37th Street.
For a city where Dominicans are its fastest-growing Latin community, the parade is as much a display of civic pride as it is a party, drawing families from every borough into Midtown for one of the summer’s loudest, proudest afternoons.
The unofficial After Party will be uptown on Dyckman St in Washington Heights.
Maria Khury, Board Member
A decade ago, the parade got into some kind of financial trouble. Our friend Maria Khury came in, cleaned it up, and put the parade on sound financial footing with responsible management. She is less directly involved now, but without Maria Khury, we wouldn’t have a parade today, and many young Dominicans would have missed opportunities to get an education, one of the key drivers to success in the United States. If you want to travel to the Caribbean or Latin America; or develop your travel business, reach out to altatravelinc.com (American Latin Travel Agents)
The Dominican Republic is well situated to be a leader in inter-American relations and business. It’s the most visited country in the Caribbean and has a long history of uniting Latinos. One of Khury’s projects is the Dominican American Chamber of Commerce. Their mission is to connect US-based Latino small businesses with major commercial partners in the Dominican Republic and across Latin America. dachamber.org
We worked with Maria in 2018, and she is still a good friend of the magazine. That’s the Dominican Way, and exactly why you should get involved with the National Dominican Day Parade. It’s much more than merengue, bachata, and dembow.