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NYC’s Easter Bonnet Festival draws huge crowd despite a drizzly weather
By
Michael Sol Warren
and
Jill Webb
Published Apr 5, 2026
Modified Apr 6, 2026
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Helen Ho
By
Michael Sol Warren
and
Jill Webb
Published Apr 5, 2026
Modified Apr 6, 2026
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Fog and rain didn’t stop the fancy hats from descending on Fifth Avenue this Easter Sunday..
Despite the less-than-ideal weather, thousands of New Yorkers and visitors participated in the annual Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival, donning elaborate headgear and costumes to stroll down between 49th Street and 57th Street. St. Patrick’s Cathedral plays home base for the event.
Tommi May of Balloons_Ink from New York
Helen Ho
The informal tradition dates back to the 1870s and reached its peak popularity in the 1930s and 1940s. The famed composer Irving Berlin wrote the song “Easter Parade” about the event; that song is performed in the 1948 movie “Easter Parade” starring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire.
Marie Mannix of Illinois and Juan Tellez Sandoval of Mexico
Helen Ho
Several attendees said the levity of the event is important.
Sabrina Mandell said she wanted her costume to conjure a revolutionary spirit, wearing a white jacket with blue pinstripes over a navy skirt and red boots, topped with a hat adorned in red, white and blue feathers. Mandell said it's her fourth time participating in the parade, travelling up from her home in Maryland for the occasion.
“It feels really necessary right now. So many people are struggling, and it's just unbelievable what’s going on,” Mandell said. “It really helps the feeling of helplessness to be in a situation where we are bringing joy to people who are feeling really joyless.”
“We feel like we’re doing a good deed by being out here,” Mandell added.
Bill Schaumberg led a trio of actors dressed as chickens. The group makes up the cast of “Three Chickens Confront Existence”, a comedy play about the chickens grappling with life in a factory farm. The show, which Schaumberg wrote, makes its New York debut in July.
“It feels more appropriate than ever,” Schaumburg said, referring to the fraught nature of current affairs. “I mean they spend literally the entire play in cages trapped and wrestling with what seems like an impossible existence. But they spend the entire of the play really looking for light, a piece of light, in what feels like a pretty dark existence.”
Leslie Wolke and Ziv Yoles dressed as New York icons for their third year of participating. Wolke was a coffee can with a coffee cup hat, while Yoles was decked out in MetroCards.
“You get to be famous for a few minutes. There’s paparazzi all around and people tell you you look beautiful,” Wolke said. “So why not spend a couple hours being told how beautiful you look?”
Tagged
new york city
parade
Michael Sol Warren
Michael Sol Warren covers New Jersey for WNYC and Gothamist, and previously reported on issues around the Garden State for NJ Spotlight News and NJ Advance Media. He can be reached at [email protected].
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Jill Webb
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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