CLEVELAND, OHIO (Oct. 6, 2025) — The Cleveland Columbus Day Parade will step off at noon on Monday, October 13, along Mayfield Road in Little Italy, continuing a tradition that celebrates Italian American pride and community.
See the 2025 Cleveland Columbus Day Parade short film here:
Parade Chairman Basil Russo — a local leader who has gone on to create 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 this past summer, and won a landmark appeal in Pittsburgh to halt the removal of the city’s 30-foot Columbus statue in 2024.
On the federal level, Russo co-organized receptions and proclamations at the White House in 2023 and 2024 to celebrate Italian American Heritage Month, and he continues to work closely with members of the Italian American Congressional Delegation on Capitol Hill, including Tom Suozzi (D-NY) and Mike Rulli (R-OH), to codify Columbus Day as a permanent holiday.
“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, who serves as National President of Italian Sons and Daughters of America (ISDA). “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.”
Last week, Rulli introduced the “Italian Heroes and Heritage Act” in Congress, a new piece of legislation that would preserve Columbus Day and the achievements of Italian Americans.
If passed, the bill would prohibit federal funds from being distributed to any state or local government that replaces Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day.
“This is not about inclusion, it is about erasing the contributions of millions of Italian Americans who helped build this nation,” Rulli said. “Indigenous peoples deserve recognition, but this day was created to honor us…Italian Americans fought to be recognized as part of the American story, and we will not allow their memory or their day of honor to be erased.”
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.
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 13th at 10 a.m.
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Related story: Columbus Day Parade Brings Pittsburgh’s Italian American Story to the Streets of Bloomfield
