Photo, video and article by: Len Rapoport
I have been covering many events in New York held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center from major trade to consumer shows. We have been expanding our coverage to many New York street events from Parades to other exhibits of interest to the public. Today we planned to cover the Easter Parade on 5th Avenue from 49th Street to 57th Street and passing St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
We arrived at 49th Street and Rockefeller Center at 10 AM. It was a beautiful, sunny and brisk morning and we had hoped to beat some of the crowds expected. The parade was to start at 10 AM and run through 4 PM, but we were surprised to find thousands had already arrived. Many were visitors to New York from many other countries while others were natives from the New York and New Jersey area.
Thousands came to see Rockefeller Center, the beautiful floral displays and the Faberge Big Egg Hunt exhibit. The Faberge eggs were exhibited around the perimeter of the Rockefeller Skating Rink and ran down the entrance from 5th Avenue to the rink. Everyone was treated to this beautiful museum type display and so many eggs with incredible and beautiful details.
[box_light]Faberge Big Egg Hunt[/box_light]
“April starts the Faberge Big Egg Hunt. 260 eggstaordinary eggs have been hidden all over New York. All proceeds from the sale of these eggs will benefit art education for New York City’s children through Studio in a School and Elephant Family’s animal conservation projects across Asia.”
These giant eggs were decorated by leading designers, artists, celebrities and you can place your bids for them on their site. You will see some of these eggs are 42″ in height and weigh as much as 400 pounds or more. Current bids from what we can see range from hundreds of dollars to many thousands of dollars and are truly beautiful and valuable works of art.
As you view them on their auction site you will see artists and companies in the competition including: Princess Ira Von Furstenburg, Alec Monopoly, Luara Flook, Jason Woodside, Maggie Norris Couture, Carolina Herrera, Tommy Hilfiger and many others. I loved all of them and the details the originality and the pure artistry is worth a place in some of the finest art museums. If you are planning a trip to New York City, this is a must see FREE exhibit.
The auction closes on April 26, 2014, so only a few days left. Visit their site and who knows, you just may be lucky enough to win one of these magnificent works of art. Visit their site to see where some of the eggs are hidden and to learn more about this important charity.
[box_light]The Easter Parade[/box_light]
Unlike many of the recent parades I have been covering, this one doesn’t have marching bands, floats, dancers, singers, the New York City Police Marching Band. It is a people’s parade, one that started in the 1800’s and was simply a way to spend Easter Sunday in New York after the upper class attended some of the New York church services. Most of the excitement and crowds congregated just outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral and it was a mix of all sorts of people. Some with outrageous costumes reminiscent of ones we had seen on the Halloween parades, but most were creative hats and costumes that contained Easter Bunnies, Eggs, Flowers and bright and pastel spring colors.
There were children dressed for the day in their finest Easter outfits and actors and actresses dressed in period costumes reminiscent of the 1800’s when the parade began. We decided to put a slide show together and a short video to enable you to see many of the Faberge eggs and some of the beautiful people at the parade.
It was a photographers day too with so much to shoot from the eggs to the participants in the parade. I understand Easter Sunday is about the religious significance of the holiday, but just as Christmas has taken on a festive and wonderful time of the year for people of all religions, so has Easter.
There were jew’s celebrating the final days of Passover and many other religious and ethnic groups there as well. This was a day for everyone, and you can see from our photos and videos, the day was one filled with brotherly love and lots of good natured fun.
It was a wonderful day and our first time at the Easter Parade and certainly not the last. Now we had to visit the NY International Auto Show to get some additional video and photos to add to our two Press Only days material we shot earlier in the week.
[signoff]
Comment here
You must be logged in to post a comment.