Sunset Park will host its annual Puerto Rican Parade and Festival on Sunday, June 11. The celebration, now in its seventh year, is run by community organization El Grito. It features music (especially bomba and plena), food, dancing, floats, and vintage cars and motorcycles, all in the spirit of a traditional Puerto Rican carnival.  The march begins on Fifth Avenue and 59th Street at 5 p.m. The festival starts at 6:30 p.m. on Fifth Avenue and 44th Street. “Over the years, the Parade & Festival has become a beloved addition to the vibrant multicultural fabric of the Sunset Park ne ..read more

Tens of thousands of people had #FunonFifth this past Sunday afternoon at the annual Fifth Avenue Festival, which stretched from 69th Street to 85th Street. There was lots to do “on the avenue,” according to Festival Manager Chip Cafiero. “This is one of the largest crowds I’ve ever seen on Fifth Avenue,” he said. “We had more than 120 vendors for this festival, the most I’ve seen. And I’ve been doing festivals for a long, long time!” Among the attractions were unique food vendors like The Pickle Guys, Sam’s Fried Ice Cream, Twisted Potato and Hangry Dog NYC. There were also lots of rides for ..read more

If Bay Ridge had a face, it could very well be that of Daniel J. Texeira.  Having spent the majority of his 65 years in this tight-knit, diverse southwest corner of Brooklyn, Texeira, affectionately known around his neighborhood as “Tex,” is unequivocally Bay Ridge through and through. Texeira, an insurance broker with Lincoln Brokerage on Third Avenue, is also the current president of the Merchants of Third Avenue (MOTA), and boasts a rich and robust history with his community. “I was born on 81st Street and Sixth Avenue, and spent my whole life living within a six-block area,” Texeira t ..read more

It’s a home run for 11-year-old Claire Giardina, who will play for the 12U Israeli national softball team in Italy this summer. The team, which is part of the World Baseball Softball Confederation Europe, will compete for the European Massimo Romeo Youth Trophy (EMRYT). Giardina, a Bay Ridge Prep student, was 6 when she started playing softball in the Dyker Heights Athletic Association. She currently plays in a New Jersey league. Last year, her father saw an ad for tryouts for the Israeli team. “My dad became friends with the person organizing the team and his daughter came to New Jersey ..read more

A man riding an e-bike followed a 20-year-old woman and grabbed her breasts, thighs and buttocks while she was walking on 45th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues at 12:40 a.m. May 21, police said. After he groped her, the suspect got back on the back and fled south on Seventh Avenue. Cops describe the man to have light complexion. He was last seen wearing blue jeans, a dark blue jacket, white and black sneakers, a black helmet and a black mask. Anyone with information can call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-8477 (or 1-888-577-4782 for Spanish). Tips can also be submitted ..read more

Paul Frederick Jabara, from the Fort Hamilton H.S. Class of 1965, was posthumously inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame May 12. A prolific songwriter, singer and actor, Jabara won the Oscar for Best Song for “Last Dance,” which Donna Summer sang in the 1978 film “Thank God It’s Friday.” He also acted in the movie and sang two songs. Jabara was born in Brooklyn on Jan. 31, 1948. He and his sisters Delores and Claudette all graduated from the Shore Road school during the tenure of Principal Jon B. Leder. Susannah O’Shea, Valerie Hodgson, Patrice Samara and Joseph and Josiah Estrella at the Wa ..read more

“Lest we forget!” Brooklyn’s 156th Memorial Day Parade stepped off “on the avenue” on Monday, May 29, drawing hundreds of patriotic Brooklynites to Third Avenue to cheer on America’s heroes as they made their way into John Paul Jones Park for wreath-laying and flag-raising ceremonies, followed by a ceremonial 21-gun salute that featured powerful cannon blasts. Parade Formation Coordinator Chip Cafiero worked with Parade Committee Chairman Raymond Aalbue to make sure all the participants lined up in the correct order and stepped off on time. The parade stretched from 78th Street all the way int ..read more

From brooklyneagle.com A Staten Island man pled guilty to a brazen, bias-motivated assault on a Jewish individual, in a Brooklyn court on Tuesday, in a case that has sparked concerns about anti-Semitic violence in the city after a person punched and then threw a cold cup of coffee in someone’s face over a hoodie that supported the military of the State of Israel. Suleiman Othman, 28, admitted to the attempted assault as a hate crime before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun. In the shocking daylight incident, Othman assaulted a 21-year- old Jewish man for wearing a hoodie bearing the em ..read more

Time passes so quickly. It seems like only yesterday that two former Williamsport Crosscutters, Anthony Bocchino and Victor Ramos, were celebrating on the field of KeySpan Park after their team beat the Brooklyn Cyclones for the 2003 New York Penn League Championship that took place at Coney Island. It was just 20 years ago that the Brooklyn Cyclones stood poised to finally win their first outright New York Penn League Championship, only to have the title snatched away by their then division rivals, the Crosscutters of the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. The rivalry started during the Cyclone ..read more

From brooklyneagle.com Groundbreaking began Tuesday, May 23 on the Green-Wood Cemetery’s $34 million Education and Welcome Center in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Founded in 1838, the Green-Wood Cemetery is one of the earliest rural cemeteries in the United States and is the final resting place for many notable figures and a popular destination for visitors from around the world. To promote the Cemetery’s history to the broader public, the Green-Wood Historic Fund will construct a 22,000-square-foot Education and Welcome Center to enhance the visitor experience with information about the Cemetery’s h ..read more