Preparations for the great Greek parade on New York's 5th Avenue are entering the final stretch and everything indicates that this year's parade will be grand and impressive, with particularly important invitees and Grand Masters of Ceremonies. Today, Friday, March 21, 2025 at 6.30 p.m., the penultimate pan-Greek gathering for the parade, which will take place on March 30, 2025, will convene at the Stathakeio Cultural Center in Astoria.
Christian Pappas
The three Great Masters of Ceremonies of the Parade
At this year's big parade on 5th Avenue, for the anniversary of March 25 and the Liberation Struggle of the Greeks, the names of the official guests and the Great Masters of Ceremonies will be particularly "resounding", with the first and best being that of the president of Olympiacos FC, Vangelis Marinakis, who will be the Grand Master of Ceremonies of the parade. At the side of the strong man of business and football will be the Chief of the American Armed Forces, General Andreas Poppas, as well as the Metropolitan of Patras, Mr. Chrysostomos.
The Honorary Masters of Ceremonies
The well-known actor and director Christoforos Papakaliatis and the three-time Olympic gold medalist in weightlifting, Pyrros Dimas, as well as the president of PASOK, Nikos Androulakis, will parade as honorary ceremonial leaders.
Also going to New York for the parade are New Democracy MP -and former Deputy Foreign Minister- Andreas Katsaniotis, the MP of the ruling party, Giorgos Georgantas, the MP of SYRIZA, Vassilios Kokkalis, as well as the Chief of Staff of the Hellenic National Defence Forces, Lieutenant General Konstantinos Bouzas.
Representatives of the Local Government of Greece will be the Regional Governor of Western Greece, Nektarios Farmakis, the Regional Governor of the North Aegean, Konstantinos Moutzouris and the Mayor of Tilos, Maria Aliferi-Kamma.
Finally, Mr. Yiannis Stroumbakis did not rule out the possibility that the Greek-American star of the Kansas City Chiefs, Giorgos Karlaftis, who participated last year as the Grand Master of Ceremonies, will be present for another year in the parade of the 5th Avenue.
Today, Friday, March 21, the penultimate pan-Greek gathering
Today, Friday, March 21, 2025 at 6.30 p.m., the penultimate pan-Greek gathering for the March 30, 2025 parade on 5th Avenue in New York will convene at the Stathakeio Cultural Center in Astoria.
This meeting was scheduled for Thursday (March 20), but the committee decided to postpone it for today, Friday, as at the same time the reception of Mayor Eric Adams in honor of the Greek Revolution for the 204th anniversary of the beginning of the Greek Revolution was due to take place at the "Gracie Mansion".
The penultimate pan-Greek gathering is usually one of the most productive, because it is the last day of registration of the expatriate organizations that wish to parade.
The parade committee will proceed with the financial report as well as the announcement of the details for the cultural events of the weekend and the events of the coming week and of the parade itself of March 30, 2025.
The sums of money raised so far
At the established pan-expatriate gathering at the Stathakeio Cultural Center, a total amount of more than 20,000 dollars was delivered. More specifically: $6,200 comes from checks from the couple Eleni and Yiannis Psaras, $10,000 from AHEPA and $5,000 from the Patras Association of New York "Kostis Palamas".
These contributions were added to the amount of money that has been collected from the contributions of the major donors - American Network Solution/Philip Christopher, Libra Group/Georgios Logothetis, Lou Katsos and Red Apple Group/John Catsimatidis - as well as the approximately 40 large donors of the Reception of the Masters of Ceremonies as well as those who have made donations through the lottery and the album. With the campaign still ongoing.
