Yonkers’ diverse array of cultures turned out Thursday, July 3, for a Parade of Nations that wended its way through the City of Hills before arriving at the waterfront along the Hudson River.
There, groups toting the flags of their homeland – Ukraine, Ecuador, Colombia and the U.S. among them — sang the U.S. national anthem before listening to a reading of the Declaration of Independence.
For Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the majority leader of the State Senate and Yonkers’ voice in Albany, the parade served as a reminder of the principles that should guide the nation as it celebrates its 250th year of independence.
“Now, more than ever, you can see what our democracy means and hopefully take this celebration seriously and think about all the freedoms we have, all the rights we have, all the opportunities we have to enjoy and…,” she said. “Pay attention.”
Yonkers, she noted, is a place where even people from warring nations can coexist.
“Do you know in Yonkers, there is a Russian Orthodox church and a Ukrainian church diagonally across from one another?” the veteran Democrat said, before joining Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano for the walk down to the waterfront. “Only in Yonkers.”
Yonkers’ role in nation’s independence
The parade organized by the Revolutionary Yonkers 250 Committee was among several events this year highlighting the role the state’s fourth largest city had in the nation’s fight for independence.
It began at the steps below City Hall where a monument honors Yonkers residents who died in service to their country – in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Steps away, Michael Kapitula, his wife Valentinya and daughters Mia and Katya, were gathering up Ukrainian and American flags as they prepared to walk in the parade.
Kapitula, who was raised in Yonkers and returned there with his family, runs the youth group at St. Michael The Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church. His group and others raised funding to support the medical and humanitarian needs of refugees impacted by the war with Russia.
“We’re in the fifth year of war with Russia and we have to keep the awareness up,” Kapitula said.
Across the way, Terrell Stowers was tuning up The Marching Cobras, a community-based band that pulls in young people from the 4th to 12th grades in Yonkers. “It’s our top of the year,” Stowers said.
On Saturday, they’ll be performing three parades in Pennsylvania.
Stowers has led the group for 19 years and has plans to expand it beyond percussion, dance and flag programs. “My next dream is to find funding for our brass program,” Stowers said.
As the parade approached the waterfront, Alejo Torres, sweating through his shirt in the 95-plus-degree heat, was waving the flags of his native Puerto Rico and the U.S.
He paused to introduce Spano, who was a few steps ahead.
“This is my brother from another mother,” Torres said, eliciting a broad grin from Spano, the city’s longest-serving mayor. “Let’s hope the next mayor is as good as him.”
Spano won’t be able to run in 2027 because of the city’s term limits restrictions. He’s now in his fourth term.
Thomas C. Zambito covers energy, transportation and economic growth for the USA TODAY Network’s New York State team. He’s won dozens of state and national writing awards from the Associated Press, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Deadline Club and others during a decades-long career that’s included stops at the New York Daily News, The Star-Ledger of Newark and The Record of Hackensack. He can be reached at tzambito@lohud.com
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Yonkers Parade of Nations highlights diversity of NY’s 3rd largest city
Reporting by Thomas C. Zambito, New York State Team / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Thomas C. Zambito, New York State Team | USA TODAY Network
