The spring parade associated with Easter bonnets along New York City’s Fifth Avenue is the Easter Parade.
New York City’s Easter Parade is a largely informal procession in which people display elaborate clothing and decorated hats. It takes place along Fifth Avenue on Easter Sunday, especially near St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and is known for participants posing in distinctive Easter bonnets rather than marching in a tightly organized civic parade.
The tradition grew from nineteenth-century Easter worship and post-service promenades, when fashionable New Yorkers walked along Fifth Avenue after attending church. The custom became prominent as department stores, churches, and newspapers helped turn Easter clothing into a major seasonal display.
The parade also inspired the title and setting of the 1948 musical film Easter Parade, starring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire. The film is not the origin of the New York event, but it helped spread the phrase internationally. Similar bonnet parades now occur in many places.