Hundreds of spectators on Sunday celebrated Puerto Rican culture and community at the 8th annual Knickerbocker Avenue Puerto Rican Day Parade.
Cars modified with massive exterior speakers boomed reggaeton, street vendors sold charcoal-grilled elote, or grilled corn, and festively-dressed paraders adorned with flags, jerseys, and traditional colors marched down Knickerbocker Avenue in Bushwick.
A sense of community pride and shared culture brings spectators back to the parade year after year.
“This is culture. Bariqua. This is my family. This is everything to me," said Justine Dorsey of Brownsville. “It made me feel prouder than proud."
Highlights of the parade included appearances from Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Jose Alvarado and Jordan Clarkson of the New York Knicks, which just clinched its first NBA title the night before in San Antonio.
Javier Lopez Jr., a Bushwick native drove, his modified Honda Civic lowrider in the parade.
“It's been a generational thing between my family," he said. "We always went to the parade and grew up with cars, and finally that I'm old enough, I could bring my own car and build it and show it off.”
