Last Updated on April 18, 2026 by George Pavlopoulos
I arrived on Fifth Avenue shortly before 10 in the morning, the official starting time of the New York Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival. The atmosphere was festive, and it was already packed in front of the impressive St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Unfortunately, the sky was overcast, and the weather forecast called for rain throughout the day. Luckily, for a couple of hours, the weather held off, and the first showers didn’t arrive before noon.
People have shown up anyway because the New York Easter Parade is a much-awaited event. If that’s your first time in New York, don’t miss it, since this is not really a parade in the strict sense. People have been making handmade bonnets since the 1870s and show up in front of the iconic church for an event that resembles a demonstration of style, humor, and NYC openness. You can see them arriving in Manhattan, wearing all sorts of flamboyant bonnets featuring floral motifs, feathers, and ornaments, as well as hats that seem sculpted for the day. Additionally, their clothes are often vintage or theatrical, and their presence transforms Fifth Avenue into a spectacle.
I spent the morning walking the famous avenue back and forth, paying equal attention to hats and faces. It was a joy to photograph all these characters, with their elaborate bonnets and their eccentric clothes. Their pride walked hand in hand with confidence and wide smiles, and whenever I asked, “May I?” as I lifted my camera, everyone smiled before I even pressed the shutter.
That being said, in this article, I will share with you some of the portraits I took during the New York Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival on April 5, 2026.
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What is the New York Easter Parade?
The tradition dates back to the late 19th century. Every Easter Sunday, a large part of Fifth Avenue is shut down, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral attracts people wearing extravagant bonnets and stylish clothing. This open-air promenade felt to me like a celebration of public joy and improvisation. What, back in the day, started as a way to show one’s wealth, turned into a free-style and casual celebration.
What I loved about the New York Easter Parade (which I thought was on par with New York’s spirit) was its informality. The NYC Easter Bonnet Festival didn’t seem to have any strict rules to follow or decode, and it was all about the details presented atop people’s heads.
The New York Easter Parade is a Performance
One thing that becomes clear from the first moment is that people took the bonnet preparation really seriously. I was impressed by how some bonnets felt as if they were constructed or even built. They were full of imagination and playfulness: I saw flowers and fish, birds and ribbons, taxi miniatures and balloons. Add next to them dogs and rabbits, and you have the full picture.
This felt so New York to me. Since there’s no dress code, participants defined their style in their own terms: no one had to take advice or follow rules. It’s more of a celebration of wild ideas, absurdity, and eccentricity, and that’s why Fifth Avenue feels like a catwalk of self-invention. One could even call it a city ritual, given that the crowd looks and comments, and the participants want to be stared at and smile.
The Faces Behind the Bonnets
While it is obvious that bonnets are what attracts the eye, the truth is that I found myself more interested in the faces beneath them. I wanted to shoot as many photos as possible during the Bonnet Festival in New York, but I didn’t just take photos of the fancy hats. It wasn’t only about the costume, but mainly about the person wearing it.
The expressions and the way people turned their gaze gently towards the camera were always the most rewarding moments of the day.
Sure, everyone enjoyed the attention, but as I slowly started shooting the portraits, I realized there were layers: some participants were amused, others were proud, some felt more shy, and quite a few remained completely themselves. The latter were definitely the most compelling to photograph.
Obviously, some of them kept being the center of attention. They seemed to rise above everyone else, and I couldn’t always tell if this happened because of their bonnet. I often thought this might be the case where style and personality met more deeply. But, honestly, I don’t know if this was just a proper reflection or just a vague statement while I walked in front of them.
No matter what, the event works well for photography because it offers different layers. Those layers also felt like New York layers, not just personality ones, in the sense that everyone at this event represented a population. Luckily, the small interactions with the participants seemed to add a more personal touch to the final shot.
The NYC Bonnet Festival has Humor and, above all, Character
As I slowly immersed myself in the Easter Bonnet Parade of New York, I realized that humor was everywhere. Apart from the smiles of the participants and the joy of the crowd, I felt the Bonnet Festival had everything: a theatrical touch, witty comments, the welcome exaggeration of street events, and lots of over-the-top hats to please everyone.
Those acts of imagination and the playfulness somehow dictated a rhythm for the crowd: everyone kept walking up and down the avenue to see more. Smalltalk would appear here and there, and one of the most common questions was: “Are you a designer?” I didn’t hear a single yes as a reply. Everyone was interested in creating a bonnet and showing up.
What I also appreciated in the New York Easter Parade was the levels of improvisation. As I already said, there were rabbits, dogs, fish, and flowers. However, this wasn’t one-dimensional. Sometimes there was chaos in the hats, while other times one could spot minimalism. And in between, there were also more layers and mixtures. I loved observing this through my camera lens and appreciating this visual language.
It might sound like a cliché or a non-local’s enthusiastic statement, but I found this parade a truly New York experience.
Fifth Avenue Under a Darkening Sky
Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t as good as it could be. The sky remained overly dramatic, and around 11:30, the first droplets began to fall. However, it seemed that there was a bit more time for proper portraits. But this also meant constantly changing the ISO to capture as much of the moment as possible.
I wrote this article more than a week after the New York Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival, so I might be more biased in my statements. But I believe that the threat of rain somehow intensified the whole experience. I felt I had to do everything quickly yet carefully because I knew the time window might be short. Usually, the parade lasts until 4 pm, but this day, nothing was for granted.
Some people even talked about a tornado. Fortunately, this never happened. When it started raining around noon, it felt more like a typical rainy day in Berlin, with some wind. Nothing overly bad or dramatic. However, this urgency gave the parade a distinct style: people prepared their hats for quite some time, and they wouldn’t miss it because of the possibility of bad weather.
I’m lucky I kept walking up and down between 49th and 57th streets, where the parade takes place. Apart from noticing different faces or people just arriving, I also enjoyed seeing the small details I had missed before, or attempting to photograph for a second time people who had impressed me. This repetition was part of the project of photographing the New York Easter Parade, and it also helped me understand its atmosphere and see the same hats from different angles.
For people who want to shoot photographs at the Bonnet Festival in NYC, I must say I kept my settings simple. I worked mainly with ISO 400, and I only started raising it up to 800 when the sky got really dark and rain appeared. I didn’t really touch the aperture; I mainly worked with the shutter speed, depending on the available light and how quickly I had to shoot a portrait.
Apparently, not every photo worked out the way I wanted. And that’s actually how things work in instances like this, where a semi street photography event takes place. I knew this would happen, and I was okay with it. It’s part of the fun, part of the process, and sometimes part of also being too impressed to shoot perfectly. Because, apart from being happy with the portraits I took, I was even happier to have attended an event dedicated to openness and improvisation.
The New York Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival: Final Thoughts
For a few hours, New York’s Fifth Avenue became a theater stage, as if it were a Broadway spin-off. I truly admired the spirit of the city, turning self-presentation into a shared experience, where hats played the first role but probably not the most important one. Seeing people so engaged and, at the same time, liberated from norms was heartwarming and definitely something I miss in Europe.
The New York Easter Parade felt like it gave permission to everyone to be theatrical, elegant, or chaotic, funny for sure, and definitely come closer to themselves. I decided to go to the Easter Bonnet Festival without overthinking it. I didn’t have a proper portrait lens with me, but this didn’t matter. I wanted to have a good time and enjoy something very local. And I firmly believe that this intention was rewarded by the images I took and from the small exchanges I had with the participants.
As you can easily imagine, I’d love to be at the New York Easter Parade again. Let’s see if I can make it happen.
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