The traditional New York City Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival takes place on Fifth Avenue. The event is centered in Manhattan, traditionally around the stretch between 49th and 57th Streets, where participants stroll in elaborate clothing and eye-catching hats.
The parade grew out of 19th-century Easter churchgoing. By the 1870s, fashionable New Yorkers began walking between ornate churches after services, displaying their new spring clothes and bonnets. The custom became especially prominent in the 1880s and was formally known as the Easter parade by about 1890.
Fifth Avenue became the natural setting because it linked some of Manhattan’s grandest churches, including St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Trinity Church, and St. Thomas’ Church. The event was once a major showcase of wealth and fashion, drawing more than a million spectators in 1947. Today, it is more informal and welcomes creative costumes, decorated hats, families, and even pets.
A common mix-up is confusing this parade with New York’s larger, organized holiday processions, such as the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The Easter event is chiefly a festive promenade rather than a tightly choreographed march.