New York’s 66th National Puerto Rican Day Parade 2023 celebrates música, cultura y alegría (music, culture and joy on Fifth Avenue; on Sunday, June 11, 2023 at 11am. It’s broadcast on ABC-7 in New York and streaming worldwide on abc7ny.com from 12 noon. FREE! 🇵🇷
Over a million Puerto Ricans and friends are expected to line Fifth Avenue for the parade. It is one of America’s biggest cultural celebrations. Be sure to bring your flag. ¡WEPA!
66th National Puerto Rican Day Parade 2023
Puerto Ricans have made tremendous contributions to salsa, boogaloo, hip-hop, freestyle, house and other Latin music. Actually, Puerto Rican musicians now dominate global youth culture.
The parade highlights Puerto Rican fine art, film, literature and food. It also celebrates the Indigenous Taíno culture which lives in the heart of the Puerto Rican community. In a way, the parade is a Taíno areíto, or community gathering. Taíno community traditions remain a central part of the island’s culture.
We are a joyful people who help entertain the world in theatre, comedy, television and sports.
Sponsors help the parade provide $200,000 in scholarships to students of Puerto Rican descent.
Honored Puerto Rican Communities
Aguadilla is the honored island community. The Northwestern corner of Puerto Rico is known for its beautiful beaches. The former Ramey Air Force Base is now Rafael Hernández International Airport and the Coast Guard Borinquen Air Station.
Los Angeles is the honored stateside community. It is one of the top ten Puerto Rican communities on the mainland. Actually more Puerto Ricans now live on the mainland, than on the island.
Parade Leaders
Lillian Rodríguez López is the new Chair of the Parade Board of Directors.
This year’s Grand Marshall is legendary Spanish-language television host Giselle Blondet (La Mesa Caliente, Nuestra Belleza Latina, Pequeños Grandes, Despierta América, Sábado Gigante).
Justina Machada (One Day at a Time) is Parade Queen. She stars in the coming “The Horrors of Dolores Roach,” story set in Washington Heights, New York City. It premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 15 for release on Amazon Prime Video on July 7.
Singer Judy Torres, the “Queen of Freestyle” rap is Madrina (Godmother).
Actor Ismael Cruz Córdova is Padrino (Godfather). “Sesame Street” was his breakthrough. He acted in “Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power,” “Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiousities” and Showtimes’s “Ray Dononan.”
Parade Honorees
Chucho Avellanet is one of Puerto Rico’s great singers.
Josie de Guzmán is a Tony-nominated actor and singer who was chosen by composer Leonard Bernstein to play “Maria” in the 1980 West Side Story revival. She had a long a successful career in television.
María Teresa “Tere” Marichal educated an entire generation of island Puerto Rican children with her PBS television show, “La casa de María Chuzema.”
Jacobo Morales, Puerto Rico’s most influential film director, was the first Puerto Rican filmmaker to be nominated for an Academy Award.
Antonio Martorell is a beloved painter, graphic artist and writer who was recently awarded the National Medal of Arts. He is one of the creators of the “Mi Grito Hacia el Mundo” (My Cry to the World) Hurricane Maria memorial in Battery Park, New York City.
Angel “Cucco” Peña is a multiple Grammy and Emmy award-winning musician who has worked with many legends of salsa, pop and reggaeton. Lately he has been directing Broadway productions in San Juan.
Silverio Pérez is a musician and comedian who founded the nueva trova group Haciendo Punto en Otro Son, and wrote the Los Rayos Gamma shows of political satire.
Parade Ambassadors include sculptor Nilda María Comas, oceanographer Dr. Antonio Mignucci, filmmaker Dr. Ariel Orama, and journalist Ana Teresa Toro.
Parade Trailblazers include “Next Level Chef” Omi Hopper, career coach Rebeca Nieves Huffman, and chef Ivelissa Rios.
Posthumous Honorees
The parade tributes:
- Rafael Hernández Marín of Aguadilla, who was one of the greatest Puerto Rican and Latin American composers.
- Tito Puente, who is still “The King of Latin Music.”
- Tito Rodríguez, one of the Palladium “Big Three” bandleaders.
- Marisol Malarét, Puerto Rico’s first Miss Universe.
- Antonia Pantoja, PhD, educator, social worker, author and activist.
For more information, visit nprdpinc.org
