The Bay Ridge Ragamuffin Parade is turning 60 — and the longtime neighborhood tradition is celebrating the milestone year by honoring the community that has maintained it.
Ragamuffin Inc. hosted its annual kickoff brunch on Sept. 20 at Bay Ridge Manor, bringing supporters together ahead of the 60th annual Ragamuffin Parade this Saturday, which will once again transform Bay Ridge into a colorful procession of costumed children.
The organization’s president, Allison Greaker, told Brooklyn Paper that the anniversary has given organizers a chance to reflect on just how deeply the parade is woven into the neighborhood.
“We are extremely excited because it dawned on us this summer that we’re the largest children’s costume parade in the country,” Greaker said. “This is the largest and oldest children’s parade.”
Greaker said the parade is the “oldest and largest” children’s parade in the country.Photo by Arthur de Gaeta
The Ragamuffin Parade has been a Bay Ridge tradition since 1966, when “Father McKenna of Our Lady of Angels and Ridgeite Cliff Scanlon rounded up neighborhood children from different parishes to put on a parade, just for fun.”
While there were no costumes at the start, longtime committee member Joan Curran said in a 2025 interview with Brooklyn Paper that “kids just wore their parents’ clothes so they looked messy like little ragamuffins. It was priceless.”
Community leaders and residents gathered over the weekend to kick off the 60th anniversary celebrations.Photo by Arthur de Gaeta
Ragamuffin Inc. sends 15,000 flyers to public and private schools throughout the district encouraging children to register for the parade. At the end of the procession, every registered child wearing a costume receives a small toy.
For its 60th, organizers are also putting a new spotlight on young community members. Rather than honoring only adult community leaders as in past years, the parade selected six junior marshals after asking local school principals to nominate students in seventh through 11th grade who have demonstrated exemplary community service.
“We got back six really great bios,” Greaker said. “And we have six kids that are going to be marching with us as junior marshals.”
Greaker (right) stands with some of the local junior marshals.Photo by Arthur de Gaeta
Our Lady of Angels will serve as this year’s grand marshal, a nod to the church’s role in the parade’s history — Father McKenna of that parish founded the event.
“If it wasn’t for the church, this parade wouldn’t be what it is today,” Greaker said.
The anniversary celebration will also recognize four Bay Ridge organizations: the Guild for Exceptional Children, the El-Rose Foundation Coats for the Cold, Bay Ridge Cares and the Bay Ridge Center.
For Greaker, the parade’s longevity is deeply personal. She marched in the Ragamuffin Parade as a child, volunteered as a teenager and now serves as its president.
“I love it,” she said. “I love that this is my outlet for community.”
Generations of Bay Ridge families share that connection. Greaker pointed to Ragamuffin Vice President Marianne Fezza as another example: Fezza marched as a child, later marched with her own children and now has marched with her grandchildren.
The parade has been ongoing in Bay Ridge since 1966.Photo by Arthur de Gaeta
“And that is what makes this such a special day,” Greaker said. “It’s just one day out of the year that we spend 11 months preparing for.”
The parade’s 60th anniversary is ultimately a celebration of that continuity — children who grow up marching eventually returning with children and grandchildren of their own.
“Bay Ridge is a very, very special community,” Greaker continued. “It always has been. And that we have been able to produce this parade for 60 years is remarkable, but at the same time, it’s a no-brainer because Bay Ridge is such a fantastic place.”