Easter Parade 1963, Fifth Avenue, New York City

In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it, 

You'll be the grandest lady in the Easter Parade. 

I'll be all in clover and when they look you over, 

I'll be the proudest fellow in the Easter Parade. 

On the avenue, Fifth Avenue, the photographers will snap us, 

And you'll find that you're in the rotogravure. 

Oh, I could write a sonnet about your Easter bonnet, 

And of the girl I'm taking to the Easter Parade.

- "Easter Parade" by Irving Berlin, 1933

This is a photo from the 1963 Easter Parade on Fifth Avenue in New York.   My husband is the little boy in the hat near the bottom middle.  His father is the gentleman on the left, and his mother is the woman dressed in the black mantilla, traditional for Easter in Spain.  His mother's aunt, Tia Chon (Ascencion), is to the right, also dressed in black. Tia Chon was my husband's nanny.

They were in New York when my husband was a child because his father worked at the United Nations.  Walking down Fifth Avenue for the Easter Parade was one my my mother-in-law's favorite memories of New York.  She said many people took photos of her Spanish mantilla.  I understand that New York still continues this tradition on Easter Sunday.

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo