PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — As Philadelphia prepares for the city's first major parade since the pandemic, a parade formerly named after Christopher Columbus, a judge ruled Columbus' statue in Marconi Park will no longer be covered by the box put there by the city.
The parade on Sunday, now known as the Italian-American Parade, is accompanied by a festival in Marconi Plaza which has been the focus of a battle over the statue of Christopher Columbus there. The city is seeking court permission to remove the statue and has covered it with a plywood box while the matter is pending.
But Judge Paula Patrick ruled Friday that the box should be removed. She ruled two months ago that the statue had to stay in Marconi Plaza.
The city immediately appealed the ruling.
"We immediately appealed this ruling. We cannot, and have no intention to, remove the box at this time. We continue to believe it is in the best interest and public safety of all Philadelphians that the statue remains secured in its box," a spokesperson for the city said.
Protestors and neighborhood residents clashed over the statue in the summer of 2020.
Italian-American Parade returns after year off, but amidst lawsuit about Columbus Day
The parade’s original namesake was Christopher Columbus, but this year, it will be known as the Italian-American Parade.
Old habits dies hard in Philadelphia, as Councilman Mark Squilla knows.
"People, I’m sure, are still going to consider (it the) Columbus Day Parade," he conceded, but organizers hope the focus will stay on Italian heritage in general.
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"We didn’t want to be controversial in any way, in that celebrating our people and the contributions that Italian-Americans gave to the country, did not want to skew that in any way," said Squilla. "There’s still controversy and lawsuits pending, and we wanted it to be a celebration."
Indeed Squilla is part of a lawsuit challenging the city’s changing the name of the holiday on Monday to Indigenous People’s Day, a change made in light of historical revisionism about Columbus’s record of abusing people native to the land he discovered.
Squilla says it shouldn’t be a competition.
"It’s not a conflict between Italians and indigenous people. It’s a celebration of what we all have given to the country," he said.
Philadelphia officials are not the only ones struggling with this new outlook.
The White House proclamation on Columbus Day devotes a paragraph to “the painful history of wrongs and atrocities that many European explorers inflicted on Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities.”
The parade on Sunday is dedicated to the late Anna Verna, the only female City Council president in the city’s history, and once again features comedian Joe Piscopo as grand marshal.
It will march on South Broad Street, covering some of the same route the Broad Street Run will take earlier in the day.
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The two events mark a revival of parades and races in the city after COVID-19 forced cancellations for more than a year’s worth of large outdoor events.
By coincidence, Monday is also Pulaski Day, named for a hero of the Polish-American community. Philadelphia’s Pulaski Day parade was held last Sunday.
The festival at Marconi Plaza from noon to 6 p.m. accompanies the parade.
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