Overview
- The Fifth Avenue promenade, which ran Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. between 49th and 57th streets, drew thousands despite light rain.
- Participants treated it as a free stroll rather than a formal march, showing off handmade bonnets, costumes, themed props, and even pets.
- City planners closed parts of Fifth Avenue to cars, with reopenings left to NYPD discretion under the DOT’s notice.
- Inside St. Patrick’s, Easter Mass filled the pews as Archbishop Ronald Hicks delivered his first Easter homily since his installation.
- The tradition dates to the 1870s and endures in popular culture through Irving Berlin’s song and the 1948 film starring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire.