Leading in the Poles

Peter Eagler is the Grand Marshal of the Pulaski Day Parade By Jordan Schwartz

Peter Eagler is about to live every Polonia’s dream. On Oct. 5, the Clifton City Councilman will lead nearly 100,000 like-minded individuals from the Tri-State area up Fifth Ave. in Manhattan as the Grand Marshal of the 71st annual Pulaski Day Parade.

“It’s really a wonderful honor to be in this position,” he said. “I started marching in the late ’70s, but I didn’t think that I would ever be Grand Marshall.”

The Pulaski Day Parade is the second longest running procession in New York City behind the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which began in 1762.

It’s been celebrated since 1937 to honor Kazimierz Pulaski, a Polish immigrant who became a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

Eagler, 53, has been a dedicated member of the local Polish community since he was a child. Growing up in the Athenia section of town, Peter went to school at St. Stephen’s in Passaic and Paul VI in Clifton, all the while attending church picnics with his parents who were involved in the Central Polish Organization.

But Eagler wasn’t interested in just his own culture. In 1976, he graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a degree in political science and Russian-area studies.

A year later, he took a job as a safety inspector for the New Jersey Highway Authority, but after a decade, Eagler became the director of Heritage Festivals at the Garden State Arts Center in Holmdel.

In 1990, the Cliftonite decided he could best help the diverse population of his hometown by becoming a lawmaker, and so he ran for City Council, a body on which he served until 2002.

Eagler was also a Passaic County Freeholder from 1996 to 2005, becoming the first Democrat to lead the board in 12 years when he was elected director in 1998.

From 2002 to 2006, the Greendale Rd. resident served as assemblyman from New Jersey’s 34th district. In 2006, he returned to the Clifton City Council.

Eagler has long been a friend to foreigners looking to make a new home in North Jersey, helping many who would call him with immigration problems.

But since being elected Grand Marshal last November, the councilman’s main focus has been preparing for this year’s parade.

“I try to attend as many of the local events as I can and I’m also helping to raise funds through the ad journal to defray the cost of the parade,” he said.

A Parade Banquet was held on Sept. 27 at the Marriot Marquis in New York.

On Oct. 5, the festivities begin with a 9 am mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and a 10:30 am breakfast at the 3 West Club between 5th and 6th Aves.

The actual procession steps off, led by the CHS Marching Mustangs Band, from 25th St. at 12:30 pm and continues up Fifth Ave. to 53rd St.

The theme of this year’s parade is “Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of Polish Pioneers Arriving at the Jamestown Colony in Virginia.”

According to polamcon.org, “Polish craftsmen, skilled in the production of potash, soap, tar and glass manufacturing, arrived at the first English colony in the New World at the invitation of Captain John Smith, who had become acquainted with them in Europe.

“Eleven years after their arrival, the Poles successfully led the first strike in the New World for equal rights. They had contributed so much to ensure the survival of the colony that when advised by the Governor that they would be excluded from voting in an upcoming election, said ‘no vote, no work.’ Such was their value to the colony that they were granted the right to vote.”