Festive Culture Clash at Annual Meeting
Can the buttoned-down culture of lawyers and the hip-shaking beat of the Caribbean co-exist? ABA Annual Meeting attendees got a chance to answer that question Sunday afternoon.
Video of parade from inside the Hilton’s 24th floor with the windows closed.
New York’s annual Dominican Day Parade snaked its way up Sixth Avenue from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., just in front of the Hilton headquarters hotel.
Considered by many to be New York’s loudest parade—many spectators come equipped with whistles and drums—the parade was a procession of floats augmented by elaborate sound systems loud enough to shake the lungs of passersby.
About 300,000 spectators were expected, and at points along the route, they were five and six deep. Cross-town traffic was backed up for two blocks in either direction.
The celebration could be easily heard inside the Hilton, where the speaker at a program on social networks briefly tried to rap his remarks in time to the salsa beat, giving up as the audience of 75 broke out in applause. But, this being New York, attendees inside the Sheraton Hotel just a block away had no idea the parade was even taking place.
Annual Meeting 2008:
