The Cleveland Columbus Day Parade will step off at noon on Monday, October 12, along Mayfield Road in Little Italy, continuing a tradition that celebrates Italian American pride, history and community.

The parade will feature thousands of participants and attendees, elaborate floats, vintage cars, the famed Orlando bread truck, marching bands, local vendors, plus a variety of authentic Italian and Italian American fare along Mayfield and Murray Hill roads.

Parade Chairman Basil Russo — a local leader who has gone on to forge a nationwide Italian American advocacy coalition — prevented the abolishment of Columbus Day in Cleveland in 2019, spearheaded a lawsuit that restored the holiday in Philadelphia in 2025, and won a landmark appeal in Pittsburgh to halt the removal of the city’s 30-foot Columbus statue in 2024.

The most significant victory arrived this past spring when Russo, who leads both the Italian Sons and Daughters of America (ISDA) and the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations (COPOMIAO), teamed up with U.S. Congressman Mike Rulli and Saturday Night Live alum Joe Piscopo to broker the installation of a replica of Baltimore’s toppled Columbus statue in front of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, just steps from the White House.\

Meanwhile, COPOMIAO National Counsel George Bochetto recently filed a federal lawsuit demanding the reinstallation of Columbus, Ohio’s namesake statue, which was taken down by city leaders in 2020 amid civil unrest.

“The largest lynch mob ever to assemble on U.S. soil killed 11 innocent Italian immigrants in New Orleans in 1891, a shocking event that sparked global outrage,” said Russo. “To ease the crisis, then-U.S. President Benjamin Harrison declared the first national Columbus Day celebration in 1892, organizing a parade in NYC that drew over a million attendees. That outpouring inspired generations of Italian Americans to build Columbus statues and hold parades, not to glorify conquest, but to establish their place in American society and honor their heritage. In celebrating Columbus Day, we observe our ancestors’ perseverance and sacrifice.”

Cleveland’s Columbus Day celebrations, sponsored by ISDA, date back to 1920 when several Italian American enclaves across the city paid homage to their heritage. After World War II, the parade unified and was held downtown before eventually moving to Little Italy in 2004.

Attendees are invited to Columbus Day Mass, which will be held at Holy Rosary Church on Mayfield Road on October 12 at 10 a.m.

The 2026 Cleveland Columbus Day Parade Grand Marshal will be announced soon!