This year's Giglio Festival in East Harlem was our first and goes down as one of those true, insider New York experiences. The Giglio monument was massive, standing over eight stories high, painted in this year's color scheme, soft pastel blues and rose colors, and accented with religious figures. The live band standing on the base platform played several tunes before the main event: dozens of Giglio Boys, dressed in this year's brown themed t-shirts and neck bandanas (past Giglios had yellow, blue or red tees), gathered side-by-side for a series of liftoffs. The entire volunteer group of men would elevate the monument -- band members and all -- on their shoulders, using wooden crossbeams, and carry it about fifty feet down the street before a musical break by the band. By completing several of these Herculean walks, the entire entourage culminated the journey in front of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church with celebratory cheers and speeches. The whole event had an intense energy and excitement to the lifting, and the ceremony of it all was a one-of-a-kind experience. The second photo from bottom shows the Giglio's dorsal scaffolding structure with a few young helpers hanging on ropes and providing a counter-balance to the structure with their own body weight. Many families drove in from out of town to gather in the old Italian Harlem neighborhood with quite a few newcomers and young families enjoying the spectacle of it all. This one is highly recommended for next year if you missed it this time around. See our previous post on the Giglio Festival: LINK
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