While a Tropical Storm may have rained on the Deitch Art Parade this summer, one part is being saved: the Ferris Bueller parade reenactment! According to Urban Prankster, "provided there are no tornadoes, dust storms, or shifting tectonic plates," artists Mina Karimi and Kara Suhey are working on the reenactment for the Greenwich Village Halloween parade. And Project Bueller 2.0 will be bigger-- they are recruiting "2000 secret agents to capture the spirit of the......

This weekend marked the beginning of the 3rd annual NY Clown Theatre Festival at the Brick Theater in Williamsburg. Festivities began with clowns taking to the streets with a subway parade. Clowns such as Lord Oxford and Graspy McTakeItAll led a crowd of about 100 strong onto a rush hour L Train where they sang along as a marching band played standards such as "Come On Eileen" and "Groove is in the Heart." After marching......

Tens of thousands of colorfully costumed revelers partied down on Eastern Parkway from Crown Heights to Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn yesterday for the annual West Indian American Day Parade with millions of people lining the street. This year's celebration was somewhat muted by Gustav's damage to the Caribbean. Mayor Bloomberg, who led the parade with Gov. Paterson, told the revelers, "We know Mother Nature is a powerful force and there have been some deaths......

Early this morning the J'Ouvert Parade made some noise in Brooklyn. The Daily News had a preview to the tradition earlier this month, saying, the pre-dawn procession provides "the music, the magic and the nitty-gritty of Caribbean carnival." The WIADCA noted on their website, "J'Ouvert is an extremely casual event. Traditionally powder, paint and dye throwing are among the festivities, so it is wise to wear cloths you do not mind getting messy." The annual......

Tomorrow is the annual West Indian American Day Carnival and Parade, which goes from Eastern Parkway and Utica Ave. to Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn. The parade, which attracts millions of people, features floats, dancers and bands that celebrate the cultures of the Caribbean. The festivities are all day--here's a little history about the parade--and expect to see politicians there (last year, Mayor Bloomberg joked he could be considered West Indian because he spends so......

File this one under: Fun! Artist Mina Karimi is looking to pull together "a large performance art piece that requires 6-8 hundred people recreating the parade scene from Ferris Bueller [video] at the Deitch Art Parade in Soho." She says she is "recruiting secret agents in the audience of the parade to mimic the extras in the movie as my Ferris float approaches. In order to fully reproduce the spirit of the scene I will......

Photo via Ira Monko's Flickr. This Sunday marks the annual Gay Pride Parade. The march will run from 5th Avenue & 52nd St. to Christopher & Greenwich St. beginning at noon -- so either join in on the fun, or adjust your driving and walking routes lest you incur some delays (NYC DoT has some tips). This year should be especially celebratory given that same-sex marriage is now legal in California! The first NYC......

2007 Mermaid Parade, by ktempest at flickr This afternoon (2 p.m.) is Coney Island's annual Mermaid Parade, which is the semi-official start of summer for many New Yorkers. It's generally one of the most joyous occasions one can come across in the five boroughs, so let's hope it doesn't take on a funereal tone considering the possible destruction of the boardwalk in its present state. Mermaid Queen Savitri D. will commence a hunger strike......

Yesterday, the heat and crowds couldn't keep an estimated 2 million people from celebrating their heritage with the 51st Annual Puerto Rican Day Parade. As one 23-year-old woman told the Sun, "We're all from the island anyways. It's this hot in Puerto Rico, so I come no matter what. Everyone is proud of where we come from." Another spectator who traveled from Massachusetts told the Daily News, "It makes you feel like you're at home......

Photograph of Jennifer Lopez on a float during last year's Puerto Rican Day Parade by Horatio Baltz on Flickr One of the city's biggest parades will attract millions of revelers tomorrow: The 51st National Puerto Rican Parade starts at 11 a.m., with the parade route beginning on Fifth Avenue at 44th Street and traveling north to 86th Street. The parade's producer Carlos Valasquez told amNew York one hundred musicians will perform, "We have music......

Yesterday's Israel Day Parade along Fifth Avenue attracted thousands of people during this 60th anniversary of Israel's founding. One parade watcher told the AP, "It's important to show our solidarity with the only Democratic state in the Mideast." Mayor Bloomberg, NY Governor David Paterson and NJ Governor Jon Corzine were at the head of the parade, which included floats, performers, and students from yeshivas and Jewish day schools. Cheers of "We've come along way!" were......

New York’s Veggie Pride Parade wound through downtown Manhattan yesterday, stretching from its defiant start in the Meat Packing District to its triumphant conclusion at the Washington Square Park. The event, intended to raise awareness about the benefits of a vegetarian and vegan diet, featured participants dressed in costumes like a seven-foot-tall pea pod, a giant carrot, and, according to the Times, “a giant pink replica of a human colon, replete with polyps and a......

Photo by Dave Surgan. This past Sunday Brooklyn was host to a Robot Parade. Why? Some residents put one together and marched their metallic legs from Park Slope to Prospect Park, "just for fun." Check out more photos of their journey, here.......

Manhattan's Easter Parade is an annual tradition for people to show off their creativity as much as their finery. Young and old strut along 5th Avenue in front of an appreciative audience, even as they balance sometimes precarious constructions atop their heads. The parade used to be strictly for the peacockery of the well-heeled, but now anyone with a flair for creative design seems to have a chance to shine. Following is just a sample......

Parades are generally times when politicians come out to march with and wave to constituents. (At last year's Gay Pride Parade, City Council Speaker Quinn and Senator Clinton marched, and Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Spitzer, and Senator Schumer were at the Puerto Rican Day Parade.) But Monday's St. Patrick's Day Parade may have few politicians, because Lieutenant Governor David Paterson is being sworn in that day, too. The Staten Island Advance points out the swearing-in is......

Lunar New Year, by Harris Graber at flickr This afternoon was the parade celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year; it's the Year of the Rat. Chinatown in Manhattan is one of the earliest concentrations of Chinese people in the United States. After the jump are more early pictures of the parade.......

This weekend marks the start of many pre-Lunar New Year Festivities in the city. The New Year begins on February 7 (more information here), and there will be the firecracker ceremony and cultural festival in Chatham Square on that day, plus the Lunar New Year Parade and Festival in Chinatown on February 10. There is also a Lunar New Year Parade in Flushing on February 9. Today through Monday, the Museum of Chinese in America......

Artist Phil Kline has brought us an Unsilent Night every year since 1992. He describes his experiment as an "outdoor ambient music piece for an infinite number of boomboxes. It’s like a Christmas caroling party except that we don’t sing, but rather carry the music, each of us playing a separate track that is a voice in the piece." City blocks are usually loud enough, but tonight get ready for a full-on sound symphony to......

Will Macy's give its regards to Broadway? The NY Times reports that the developers who are trying to redevelop the James Farley Post Office building into the new Moynihan Station "are in the early stage of negotiations with Macy’s" to move from the store's landmark Herald Square location to the Farley building on Eighth Avenue. Charles Bagli's article summarizes the progress of the Penn Station redevelopment and Farley-into-Moynihan Station project: It's complex, given the......

Last month, New York City kicked off a big global advertising campaign to attract more tourists to the Big Apple. The ads appear in a number of venues, and the Post notes that media space has been bought in Out magazine and on the LOGO network, as well as LGBT websites. A Bloomberg administration official explains that gay and lesbians have more disposable income, as they are usually dual-income without kids, "What we're saying......

The tree is lit, and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular is another tradition back for a 75th season. The well-seasoned Rockettes steal the show from Santa every year, and have quite a history -- they were originally called The Roxyettes and originated in...Missouri:The group was started by Russell Markert in 1925 in St. Louis, Missouri as the "Missouri Rockets". In 1927, Samuel Roxy Rothafel discovered them and brought them to New York City. They......

The family of late Detective Dillon Stewart was joined by Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and other city officials in the dedication of a Prospect Park playground in Stewart's honor. The Parade Ground Playground, at the corner of Caton Avenue and Parade Place, near East 16th, was renamed the Dillon Stewart Playground. Stewart was killed on November 28, 2005, when he and his partner stopped a car for a traffic violation. Someone......

While everyone knows that the proposals five development teams have offered up for the MTA's West Side rail yards are likely to change, the NY Times' architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff made it clear that he hopes they do, with a withering review of the five plans. Noting the great opportunity that developers have, Ouroussoff says the designs "are not just a disappointment for their lack of imagination, they are also a grim referendum on......

The Post finds out that if sold, the inflated balloon of artist Jeff Koons' Rabbit, which made its debut appearance in the 81st Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday, would go for $5 million. The balloon isn't for sale, but the parade is so happy with the balloon that it's interested in ideas from other artists. Um, formaldehyde Damien shark, anyone? Or how about a Takashi Murakami Mr. Pointy balloon? Dan Flavin light balloon?......

Two men walking along the East 79th transverse near Fifth Avenue were robbed at gunpoint by four men around 7:15PM on Wednesday night. The victims, ages 34 and 38, gave up their wallets and a cellphone for the robbers, who are described as young "black males between 18 and 20" years old" who "fled in the direction of the Great Lawn." The 34-year-old victim spoke to the Daily News and explained he and his partner......

Yesterday's lovely weather made the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade a big crowd pleaser. An estimated 3.5 million spectators watched as giant balloons, floats, and hundreds of parade performers sauntered from 77th and Central Park West to Herald Square. Some people waited since 4AM in hopes of catching a glimpse of their favorite performers, who included Dolly Parton, Wynonna, the cast of Legally Blonde, American Idol winner Jordin Sparks, Good Charlotte, Menudo (really!), the Rockettes......

Starting in the afternoon, the masses traveled to the Upper West Side yesterday to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons get inflated on West 77th and West 81st Streets between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue. By 6PM, crowds were penned in for blocks - it took us about 30-40 minutes of shuffling and snaking around before we could get close to any balloons. We suspect the Broadway stagehands' strike as well as......

Another gloomy day today. A bit of fog this morning may delay flights out of town. You may also have weather-caused delays if you're going to northern New England (ice and snow), Chicago-Detroit-Milwaukee (rain) and the front range of the Rockies from Denver northward (snow). If you're staying in town you can expect cloudy skies and mild temperatures with a high in the mid-50s. It won't cool off much tonight, making for a comfortable......

Tomorrow is one of our favorite days of the year: The annual Thanksgiving Eve inflation of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons! This year, there are twelve giant balloons: Dora the Explorer, Kermit the Frog, Healthy Mr. Potato Head (he's wearing a jogging suit), Scooby Doo, Ronald McDonald, Pikachu w/Poke-Ball, Energizer Bunny, Flying Ace Snoopy, and JoJo's Circus will be joined by new balloons Abby Cadabby, Shrek, and Super Cute Hello Kitty! As if Hello......

Did you see the snow this morning? Light snow, drizzle and fog were in the mix at Central Park for several hours this morning. More intriguing, between nine and ten this morning the Weather Service reported "unknown precipitation" as falling on Belvedere Castle. Very mysterious! Not enough snow fell in the city to actually be measured but places to the north and west reported up to three inches of snowfall. Aside from the momentary snow......