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1000’s of individuals lined Skillman Avenue Sunday afternoon for the twenty seventh annual St. Pat’s for All Parade, which celebrated variety, inclusivity and New York’s migrant group.
St. Pat’s for All, based 26 years in the past as a protest towards the exlusion of LGBTQ teams from the fifth Avenue St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Manhattan, has developed into one of many largest days of the Sunnyside calendar, drawing over 100 teams and greater than 1,000 members.
The parade adopted its conventional route, kicking off at 1 p.m. from its start line at forty third Avenue and Skillman Avenue earlier than progressing down Skillman and ending on the intersection of 58th Avenue and Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside.
Over 100 teams participated within the annual parade, together with a vibrant mixture of cheerleading squads, drum corps, multicultural teams, Irish marching bands and Irish dance troupes that introduced a cacophony of sounds to Skillman Avenue.
Photograph by Ramy Mahmoud
“Star Trek” actress Kate Mulgrew and Irish Repertory Theatre co-founders Charlotte Moore and Ciarán O’Reilly served as grand marshalls for the 2026 parade, which paid tribute to Malachy McCourt, a “staunch supporter” of St. Pat’s for All who died final yr.
Photograph by Ramy Mahmoud
A number of teams additionally marched behind banners with political messages, together with requires a Free Palestine and “No War in Iran” after the U.S. and Israel launched 1000’s of air strikes throughout Iran on Saturday, killing Iranian Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Photograph by Ramy Mahmoud
Different teams taking part within the march displayed banners like “Gays against Guns,” “Abolish Nuclear Weapons” and “Abolish ICE.”
Photograph by Ramy Mahmoud
In the meantime, the occasion’s customary pre-parade rally featured a variety of rousing speeches from distinguished Irish and New York Metropolis politicians, lots of whom celebrated New York’s migrant group amid elevated federal immigration enforcement.
Eamon Gilmore, the previous chief of the Irish Labour Celebration and a former EU particular consultant for Human Rights, described St. Patrick as a “model for inclusion and diversity.”
Colum Eastwood, a Member of Parliament representing Derry Metropolis and the previous chief of Northern Eire’s Social Democratic and Labour Celebration (SDLP), mentioned he had been requested to ship a message to St. Pat’s for All on behalf of the households of the Bloody Sunday victims, who had been shot lifeless by British troopers as they marched unarmed for civil rights in Derry in 1972.
“The families of the Bloody Sunday victims have asked me to come and send you a message,” Eastwood mentioned. “A message of solidarity to each single particular person – citizen or non-citizen – standing up towards ICE and the unlawful detention of our individuals.
“As you have always stood with us, we stand with you,” he continued. “We shall overcome.”
In the meantime, Micky Murray, the primary brazenly homosexual Lord Mayor of Belfast who served as grand marshal on the 2025 parade, mentioned cultures are strongest once they “include everyone.”
“There is no contradiction between being proudly Irish and being proudly inclusive,” Murray mentioned. “That means welcoming every immigrant community. It means celebrating our LGBTQ+ community as a valued and equal part of our Irish family, and it means creating a culture where no one is ever told that they don’t belong.”
Photograph by Ramy Mahmoud
A number of native elected officers additionally spoke on the pre-parade rally, main crowds in chants similar to “abolish ICE” and “No hate, No Fear, immigrants are welcome here.”
Meeting Member Claire Valdez mentioned St. Pat’s for All was about accepting neighbors “no matter where they come from.”
“It’s about standing together against forces trying to rip us apart,” Valdez mentioned. “(It is) celebrating what makes this neighborhood and our community beautiful.”
NY-7 candidates Antonio Reynoso, Claire Valdez and Julie Gained at Sunday’s St. Pat’s for All Parade. Photograph by Ramy Mahmoud
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards instructed the gang that variety is the borough’s power and mentioned members within the 2026 St. Pat’s for All Parade would march for many who couldn’t march themselves.
“We’re going to continue to stand up for our immigrant communities, LGBTQIA+ communities. We will continue to march against this tyranny and people who want to divide us,” Richards mentioned.
Council Member Julie Gained, however, praised the native Sunnyside and Woodside communities for standing up for migrant and LGBTQ communities. She added that her workplace has helped organized fast response coaching for over 2,000 individuals to assist push again towards federal immigration authorities and vowed that she is “just getting started.”
“We will continue to fight for the safety of every single one of our neighbors,” Gained mentioned.
Lawyer Common Letitia James, who styled herself as “Letitia Jameson” for the afternoon, mentioned St. Pat’s for All was an occasion the place individuals come collectively “united as one” towards hate and discrimination.
Lawyer Common Letitia James. Photograph by Ramy Mahmoud
Over a dozen native elected officers, together with State Sen. Michael Gianaris; Meeting Members Jessica González-Rojas and Catalina Cruz; Council Members Shekar Krishnan and Linda Lee; and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso additionally spoke on the rally.
However there was a time when the St. Pat’s for All organizing committee struggled to obtain assist from elected officers or giant swaths of the local people.
Danny Dromm, a co-founder of St. Pat’s for All and a former Metropolis Council Member, famous that the parade is “very different” from when it first launched 26 years in the past.
“Very few people were on the street. Now, it’s packed,” Dromm mentioned. “The parade has grown. The community has welcomed it.”
The fifth Avenue St. Patrick’s Day Parade has since reversed its ban on LGBTQ teams, whereas the Staten Island Parade started permitting LGBTQ teams to march beneath their very own colours final yr, with organizers noting that each parade within the metropolis now permits the LGBTQ group to take part.
Though the unique inspiration for the protest has now been resolved, organizers consider that St. Pat’s for All stays a possibility to face in solidarity with different teams marginalized by society or politicis, together with the immigrant and trans group. The parade can also be a vastly common occasion on the annual Sunnyside calendar.
“It’s a wonderful day enjoyed by everybody,” Dromm mentioned. “I think it’s really important to our immigrant communities, especially in this time and in this country, that we should up and support them.”
Photograph by Ramy Mahmoud
