NYC to hold first Asian American and Pacific Islander parade

NEW YORK — New York City will hold its first-ever Asian American and Pacific Islander Cultural and Heritage Parade in Manhattan this weekend, Mayor Eric Adams and event organizers announced Wednesday.

The parade is set for Sunday at 10:45 a.m. on Sixth Avenue from West 44th Street to West 55th Street.

It comes a day after another first for the city: a Japan Day parade to celebrate Japanese Americans and their heritage, scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. on Manhattan's Central Park West.

The two parades are being held during Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, and amid activism following a wave of anti-Asian attacks during the coronavirus pandemic.

"As we work to combat a spike in hate crimes, it is important to support and uplift our AAPI brothers and sisters," Adams said in a statement. "We are proud to announce the New York City's first annual Asian American and Pacific Islander Cultural and Heritage Parade and pay tribute to the generations of New Yorkers from the Asian and Pacific diaspora."

Wellington Chen, executive director of the Chinatown Business Improvement District, said the new event is important for unity.

"In these pandemic times and with Anti-Asian intolerance, division, and hatred on the rise, it is so important for all of us to come together to celebrate our collective humanity — in a rare historic parade — as it is about time that we march together with each other to show our solidarity," Chen said in a statement.