Ecuadorians celebrate along Northern Boulevard

BY CLAUDIA CRUZ

Wednesday, August 5, 2009 12:32 PM EDT

The rain didn’t dampen the spirits of the revelers at the Queens Ecuadorian Day parade.

On Sunday, August 2 in celebration of Ecuador’s bicentennial, hundreds of people waved their yellow, blue and red flags along the stretch of Northern Boulevard from 69th to 90th Street while braving the torrential downpour.

The dozens of floats – some with tarps to shield themselves from the rain – and scores of drenched parade participants marched along the boulevard always singing, dancing, and amusing the parade-goers.

“Long live Ecuador! Long live New York,” said a smiling Senator Charles Schumer in Spanish to the crowd. Also in attendance were Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who walked for several blocks, Councilmember Julissa Ferreras – the parade’s godmother, Assemblyman Jose Peralta and City Council candidates Eduardo Giraldo, Daniel Dromm and Stanley Kalathara.

Queens County Civil Court Judge Carmen Velasquez, the first Ecuadorian judge in the country, also marched.

On wet Northern Boulevard, Ecuadorians – the largest Latino group in Queens County with 97,486 residents out of almost half a million Latinos, according to the U.S. Census 2005-2007 American Community Survey – young and old, immigrant or American-born, came out to show their national pride.

“I was at both parades [the Colombian and Ecuadorian] and despite the rain I didn’t see a downturn in attendance,” said one Jackson Heights resident. “The participants in the parade were just as enthusiastic and the only change was the amount of umbrellas!”

Another attendee said that it seemed bigger and more vibrant this year even with the rain.

The annual parade marked one in a series of events sponsored by the Ecuadorian community to celebrate their independence. On Saturday, August 2 in the auditorium at Elmhurst Hospital, the Ecuadorian Civic Committee hosted a folkloric event with a CUNY historian Dr. Mariana Hernandez.

Also, former Ecuadorian soccer team captain Alex Darío Aguinaga Garzón came to Elmhurst on Thursday, July 30.

On August 10 Ecuador celebrates 200 years after its first call for independence from Spain. Independence was officially gained on May 24, 1822.