Tenth Anniversary of New York City
Tartan Day Parade in April 2009
NEW YORK CITY - The National Tartan Day New York Committee Inc. has announced that the 2009 New York City Tartan Day Parade will take place on April 4.
The parade will form on Sixth Avenue and 43rd Street at 1:45 PM and step off at 2 PM, led by its Grand Marshal. Scottish and local dignitaries as well as pipe bands and other American Scottish organizations will follow.
Past Grand Marshals have included Lawrence Tynes, Scots-born member of the 2008 winning New York Giants Super Bowl team; Sir Sean Connery, Scottish born actor; and American-Scot, Randall Wallace, author of the Braveheart screenplay.
Pipe Bands, individual pipers and drummers, Scottish school and university alumni groups, sports clubs, as well as other Scottish and American-Scottish organizations are cordially invited to participate in the tenth anniversary parade, and to join in post parade socializing.
The parade is the centerpiece of Tartan Week, a week-long series of events that have blossomed around April 6, National Tartan Day.
It is a celebration of Scottish culture and heritage, and of the significant contributions that Scots and American-Scots have made to the United States, particularly in the principles that form the Declaration of Independence.
April 6, National Tartan Day, was chosen because it commemorates the signing on April 6, 1320 of the Declaration of Arbroath, a letter sent by Scots to Pope John XXII asserting Scotland's right to independence.
A people's right to be free, so powerfully expressed in the Declaration, has resonated around the world, no more so than in America, where the document served as the inspiration for the writers of the Declaration of Independence.
Scots and American-Scots played central roles at the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Twenty-six of the fifty-one men who signed the Declaration of Independence were of Scottish ancestry.
Founders of the Parade Committee are the St. Andrews Society of the State of New York, formed 1756; the New York Caledonian Club, formed 1856; the American-Scottish Foundation, formed 1956; and Clan Campbell. To register to march in the parade, visit: www.TartanWeek.com.
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