Madison Square Park to Union Square, NYC: Fifth National Indigenous Peoples of the Americas Parade Marches Down Broadway

On Saturday, October 17, 2026, the fifth annual National Indigenous Peoples of the Americas Parade was held in Manhattan. According to SAMAA TV and Xinhua, the day began with a gathering and opening ceremony at Madison Square Park, followed by a march along Broadway from 26th Street to Union Square.

The parade is organized by Lenape Native Americans, whose ancestral land includes present-day New York City. It welcomes Indigenous peoples from across the Americas, from the Arctic to the southern tip of South America, and friends and supporters joined in as well. The program offered a way to learn about Indigenous cultures through storytelling, singing, drumming, dancing and traditional clothing. Xinhua's photographs show a ceremony and artists singing traditional songs.

The route carries meaning. SAMAA TV reports that the area around Madison Square Park was once part of Lenape ancestral lands, and that Broadway follows an Indigenous trail known as Wickquasgeck, which linked settlements and gathering places on Manhattan Island. The outlet also placed the event against a long history of dispossession after European colonization, including disease, violence, forced displacement and the loss of ancestral lands.

Coverage of earlier editions gives a sense of the event's character. Xinhua's report on the third parade, in 2024, described participants from more than ten tribes in the United States, Canada, and Central and South America. Speakers called for action on violence against Indigenous women, and marchers chanted "We're still here." One participant noted that thousands of Indigenous people live in New York City away from reservations.

This year's parade was a one-day event on October 17 and has now ended.

(Details are drawn from points that agree across reports by SAMAA TV, Xinhua.)