The 34th Annual Bronx Dominican Parade took place along the Grand Concourse on Sunday, July 30, drawing thousands of Bronxites of Dominican heritage and others to the streets to march or ride on various floats.

 

The parade started at 179th Street and Burnside Avenue in Morris Heights and continued to 168th Street and the Grand Concourse.

 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Congressman Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), newly appointed NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, an honorary parade marshal on the day, Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark, Assembly Member Yudelka Tapia (A.D. 86), Assemblyman George Alvarez (A.D. 78), and District 14 City Councilwoman Pierina Sanchez were among the elected officials marching on the day.

 

As the sun shone down, hundreds of happy families lined the parade route, waving their flags with pride and snapping photos of the colorfully dressed parade participants, some of whom performed traditional music and dance.

 

According to Small World Money Transfer, a large population of Dominicans emigrated to the United States in the 1960s and 1970s following the fall of the Trujilo regime in the Dominican Republic.

 

Rafael Trujillo Molina, nicknamed “El Jefe” or “The Boss,” was a Dominican dictator who ruled the country from 1930 until his assassination in 1961.

 

According to the site, there are nearly 900,000 Dominican Americans in New York, comprising over 4 percent of the entire New York population.

 

Deputy Bronx Borough President Janet Peguero, profiled previously by Norwood News, Espaillat, Tapia, Alvarez, and Sanchez, also previously profiled by Norwood News, are just some of the current Bronx elected officials of Dominican heritage.

 

Little Dominican Republic, the center of Dominican-American culture, food, music, and politics in New York, according to the same site, is located in Washington Heights, where many Dominican immigrants settled, as well as in Queens, and in The Bronx.

 

As reported, last year, NYS Sen. Luis Sepúlveda (S.D. 32) announced a historic collaborative agreement with the senate of the Dominican Republic on July 20, which was set to include an official visit by a delegation from the New York State senate to the senate of the Dominican Republic.

 

The senator represents some or all of the neighborhoods of Tremont, Mt. Eden, Crotona, Claremont Village, Morrisania, Forrest Houses, Longwood, West Farms, Williams McKinley Houses, and Forest Houses.

 

Back at The Bronx parade, one attendee could be heard saying, “Wow! I love this!” while another woman who was accompanied on the day by her children, said it was “a beautiful, cool day for the parade.”

 

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.