Another parade in the books, not the Guinness book of world records in terms of
people viewing according to the Omogeniako Press. O.k let me put my 2 cents
worth of commentary. I marched 2 times up 5th avenue once with the Federation
float and once with the Pan Erikoussa Society of America and since one float
was in the beginning of the parade and the other almost at the end I saw both
sides (metaphorically speaking) of the coin. My first time up 5th avenue the
sidewalks were almost full except for some spots in the middle seventy’s. The
grandstand was full of dignitaries from Greece, the local politicians that marched
up to the stand and stopped there to view the parade.
The parade is from 61st street to 79th and not to 68th were everybody stopped,
how in the world people will go to view the parade above the stand if even the
band that comes from Greece every year stops to play and entertain the
dignitaries at the Grand Stand. My second time up the avenue was with the Pan
Errikoussa Society of America
And this time there were empty spots in the sixties, the Grand Stand was no
longer Grand
Because it was empty with the exception of his Eminence the Archbishop
Demitrios, the president of The Federation Mr. Diamantidis, the puplic relations
officer of the federation Mr. Rallis, 2 of the co-chairmen of the parade Mr. Tasos
Manessis and Mr T. Pavlou,
Everybody else was gone, too cold for them I guess. I was reading today in the
daily Greek Paper in their main article about the parade “Without doubt, the not
so favorable weather forecasts deterred enough fellow countrymen from
attending, especially those that live far from New York. It can’t however be
attributed in decreased attendance, the moment it didn’t even rained? Our
opinion is, that yes the weather contributed but it was not the decisive factor.
Hence, is the question, who is accountable in the bigger degree?” I think
accountability starts at home, the word was out, I don’t think there was a Greek
or Greek American that didn’t know the where when and how of the parade. You
can blame the Federation, the Greek press, the weather, the time of day, the
live broadcast, the leprechauns, and or the kalikanzarous. The bottom line is,
the people that chose to stay home are to blame.
people viewing according to the Omogeniako Press. O.k let me put my 2 cents
worth of commentary. I marched 2 times up 5th avenue once with the Federation
float and once with the Pan Erikoussa Society of America and since one float
was in the beginning of the parade and the other almost at the end I saw both
sides (metaphorically speaking) of the coin. My first time up 5th avenue the
sidewalks were almost full except for some spots in the middle seventy’s. The
grandstand was full of dignitaries from Greece, the local politicians that marched
up to the stand and stopped there to view the parade.
The parade is from 61st street to 79th and not to 68th were everybody stopped,
how in the world people will go to view the parade above the stand if even the
band that comes from Greece every year stops to play and entertain the
dignitaries at the Grand Stand. My second time up the avenue was with the Pan
Errikoussa Society of America
And this time there were empty spots in the sixties, the Grand Stand was no
longer Grand
Because it was empty with the exception of his Eminence the Archbishop
Demitrios, the president of The Federation Mr. Diamantidis, the puplic relations
officer of the federation Mr. Rallis, 2 of the co-chairmen of the parade Mr. Tasos
Manessis and Mr T. Pavlou,
Everybody else was gone, too cold for them I guess. I was reading today in the
daily Greek Paper in their main article about the parade “Without doubt, the not
so favorable weather forecasts deterred enough fellow countrymen from
attending, especially those that live far from New York. It can’t however be
attributed in decreased attendance, the moment it didn’t even rained? Our
opinion is, that yes the weather contributed but it was not the decisive factor.
Hence, is the question, who is accountable in the bigger degree?” I think
accountability starts at home, the word was out, I don’t think there was a Greek
or Greek American that didn’t know the where when and how of the parade. You
can blame the Federation, the Greek press, the weather, the time of day, the
live broadcast, the leprechauns, and or the kalikanzarous. The bottom line is,
the people that chose to stay home are to blame.
| For more photos click on the corresponding link. . |