BROOKLYN AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY PARADE

James Nania, the chairman of Brooklyn's 107th annual American Independence Day Parade Committee has announced civic leader and Brooklyn journalist Ted General has been designated the Grand Marshal, and will lead the parade on Saturday, June 30th, starting at 12 noon. Parade route will be along upper 13th Avenue to 86th Street, in Dyker Heights. General, who pens the column, 'Generally Speaking' for two Brooklyn southwest newspapers is a local historian and author.

He is the 2nd Vice President of the Society of Old Brooklynites; veteran member of the 68 Precinct Community Council, member of the Fort Hamilton Army Base's Citizens Action Committee, member of the Brooklyn Consumer Federation, member of Cathedral Club of Brooklyn, member of the Knights of Columbus, public relations director of the Children’s Ragamuffin Parade, community service director of the Bay Ridge AARP, and a parishioner of St. Patrick’s Church in Bay Ridge. In 2005, he received the Bay Ridge Community Council's annual Civic Award and is also a past recipient of the Admiral Joseph "Jocko" Clark, USN Patriotic Award.

The patriotic parade sponsored by the Long Island Assembly of the Knights of Columbus, will commemorate the 236th birthday of America, and salute our Nation's Armed Forces. Organized in 1905, it is New York City’s oldest, continuous Independence Day Parade.

For several decades, the parade was held on July 4th. However, in recent years the parade committee has voted to hold it on the Saturday, before July 4th, to encourage better participation by marching units and to draw larger crowds.