Performers, Bands, and Red, White and Green on Fifth Avenue in NYC Columbus Day Parade

NEW YORK, Oct. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The 2010 Columbus Day Parade, the largest celebration of Italian-American heritage and culture in the world, will feature over 100 contingents, including virtuoso performances of traditional Italian and Italian-American music; dance, and street performers; floats that depict dramatic and colorful tableau of cultural icons; over a dozen marching bands, and national and international dignitaries.  

The Parade runs north on Fifth Avenue from 47th to 72nd Street and begins at 11:30 AM.  It is viewed live by millions of people on Fifth Avenue and through television broadcast on WNBC-TV from noon until 3:00 PM and anchored by Joe Piscopo and Bernadette Castro and on RAI International.  

Parade highlights include:  

• Grand Marshal Maria Bartiromo, a Brooklyn native and nationally renowned financial reporter and producer who anchors CNBC's "Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo" and hosts and is managing editor of the nationally syndicated "The Wall Street Journal Report with Maria Bartiromo."  Ms. Bartiromo was also the first reporter to broadcast on a daily basis from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.  

• Numerous colorful floats created by Studio Festi, the Italian producer of outdoor spectacles and theatrical displays.

• Groups of folk dancers and musicians from Italy and the United States who perform traditional Italian dances and songs that, hundreds of years later, are appreciated by people around the world.

• Maserati cars from the 1930s, when they set speed records, through today, when they combine exceptional performance with unsurpassed comfort in breathtaking achievements of engineering.  

• In the spirit of recognizing exceptional achievement in the field of finance and philanthropic support for the Italian-American community, the Parade's Honorees are Jason DeSena Trennert, Founder, Strategas Research Partners, and Frank Bisignano, Chief Administrative Officer and an Operating Committee Member of JP Morgan Chase.  

• Cast Members of Pinocchio The Italian Musical, in full costume and performing pantomime skits along the Parade route.  Produced by Compagnia della Rancia in collaboration with Queens-based Incanto Productions LLC and The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, the play will be at The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, enthusiastically announced the American debut of "PINOCCHIO The Italian Musical" for one week only October 19 - 23, 2010.  

• Thousands of men and women from the uniformed civil service departments of New York City, who help make the city run efficiently and keep it safe and one of the most visited and admired places in the world.  

SOURCE Columbus Citizens Foundation