The region’s largest parade celebrating Polish heritage and commemorating General Casimir Pulaski, hero of the American Revolution and Father of the American Cavalry.

The day begins with a memorial mass at St. Valentine’s PNC Church, 127 King Street, Northampton at 10 a.m., followed by the parade starting at 11:30 a.m., which proceeds through downtown Northampton, culminating at Pulaski Park.

President Herbert Hoover signed a congressional resolution in 1929 declaring an annual Pulaski Day. The granite monument in Northampton was erected shortly after; former President and Northampton Mayor Calvin Coolidge unveiled it.

This holiday is celebrated every year on Oct. 11 by Presidential Proclamation, to commemorate Pulaski’s death from wounds suffered at the Siege of Savannah on Oct. 9, 1779, and to honor the heritage of Polish Americans. A freedom fighter in Poland, Pulaski sailed to the United States to fight in the Revolutionary War and is often called the “father of the American cavalry.”