International Children's Day - 28th Annual Event in Fort Lee

Koinobori –on Main Street in Fort Lee Sunday!

28^th Annual International Childrens Day in Fort Lee

JAPANESE TRADITION for all Kids and Parents in Fort Lee       

Sunday, May 20 – 1 p.m.

Children wearing the national dress and costume of their homeland will parade along Main Street from on Main Street this Sunday.

The parade concludes at at Palisade Avenue and Angioletti Place. There, children will be entertained by a Taiko Drum performance and workshop (by Biwanko, a children’s Japanese drum group) and a Karate demonstration.

Games include tug-o-war and Tamaire (a Japanese ball-toss game), and International folk dances complete the program.

The annual event began nearly three decades ago, a longstanding effect of the friendship between a Japanese boy living in Fort Lee and a local “American” boy.

Before his family moved back to Japan in 1985, Jun Sanada gave his treasured “Koinobori” to an American friend.

The friend is my son, Sandy Kinney. Unable to reciprocate for this lavish and loving gift, I approached then-mayor Nicholas Corbiscello for permission to display the four 6-foot long - fish-shaped kites in front of Borough Hall on Main Street.

The Mayor agreed to the request and embellished it.

“Lets invite all the local kids,” he said.

The local Fort Lee population had become quite diverse by then.

Families from Japan, Korea, China and Russia had joined the Italian-American and Irish-American and German-Americans who were my Fort Lee neighbors growing up.

We could not anticipate the enthusiasm for this event.  But, there they were in their splendid costumes: White pantaloons from Greece, Kimonos from Japan, colorful embroidered wraps from Guatemala and more.

The children were invited to witness “The Flying of the Koi Nobori,” as the vividly colored, fish-like kites were raised upon the Borough flag pole, and sing the song of the Koinobor and “the Beautiful.”

Successful beyond our imagination, we – my son, Jun’s family, the mayor, and myself – decided to make this an annual event.

Expanded to include a parade along Main Street, and games and performances at Monument Park, participants have included children and families from Uzbekistan, Turkey, China, Singapore, and other distant lands, as well as those with distant ties to home countries.

Participants are asked to gather a little before 1 pm at Borough Hall on Main Street.

The raising of the Koinobori takes place at 1 pm, followed by assembly for the Parade.

Parade proceeds along Main St. east to Palisade Avenue – and south along Palisade to Monument Park at Angioletti Place, where games and activities are held.

For information, call 201-461-8257.