Sixth Annual Huntington Awareness Day Parade To Honor Retired Police Inspector, Wounded Police Officer and Community Leaders

Saturday, September 12, 2015

11 a.m. parade start. Fair runs until 5 p.m.

New York Avenue, Huntington Station

Parade kicks off from New York Avenue and West Hills Road

Reviewing stand is at New York Avenue and Northridge Street

Fair is in the municipal lot on New York Avenue between Railroad and Church Streets

The longtime commander of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Second Precinct will be the grand marshal and honors will be bestowed on a police officer wounded in the line of duty, a 101-year-old wartime aircraft worker, a volunteer at the VA medical center and two families with longtime contributions to the community as the Sixth Annual Huntington Awareness Day parade kicks off on Saturday, September 12.

First held in 2010, Huntington Awareness Day has become an annual tradition, with thousands of people turning out to celebrate the community’s unity, diversity and solidarity.

As in previous years, bands, floats, vintage cars, service groups and local merchants will join the march down New York Avenue through Huntington Station from West Hills Road to the municipal parking lot between Railroad and Church Streets. The parking lot will also be the location of the annual Awareness Day fair, which will include performances by local artists and more than 40 booths offering crafts and services.

Leading the parade as grand marshal will be Insp. Edward Brady, who retired in July after serving almost six years as commanding officer of the Second Precinct, which covers Huntington. Insp. Brady’s Suffolk County Police Department career spanned 36 years, 14 of which were spent in various Second Precinct assignments.

Also being honored from the SCPD is Officer Mark Collins. In March, Collins, a 12-year veteran of the force, was shot in the neck and hip a while chasing a suspected gang member who had fled after a traffic stop in Huntington Station. The suspect accused of shooting Collins is awaiting trial. Collins, who in 2008 was named Second Precinct officer of the year and who previously had received a medal for helping save a man’s life during a house fire, has recovered from his injuries.

The other honorees include:

— Sophie Sarro, a 101-year-old Huntington Station native who while trained as a seamstress worked during World War II helping to manufacture airplanes for Grumman Aircraft. She later worked in the machine shop at Republic Aviation, where she met her husband, Sal. A mother and grandmother, she is still active in Town senior clubs and in sewing robes and other items she donates to charitable organizations.

— Franklin LaBarbara, a Korean War veteran and retired owner of an engineering and manufacturing company. He has volunteered for many years in the chaplain services department at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Northport. He has also co-chaired the employment network program at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs church for more than 20 years.

— the Harris family, whose patriarch, Rufus Harris, an accomplished mechanic, overcame segregation in South Carolina, moved to Huntington and founded an automobile repair shop, Rufus & Sons, which was one of the first African-American owned businesses in Huntington. The shop included two generations of the Harris family and was in business for 40 years.

— the Sorrentino family, who have been fixtures on the Huntington business scene for many years. Andrea Sorrentino has operated a shoe repair shop in Huntington village for 35 years. His sons, Pasquale and Andre, own an auto body shop. The have been active in civic and charitable affairs, as well as in the Huntington Fire Department, where Andre Sorrentino is a commissioner.  For each of the past five Thanksgivings, the family has given away 300 turkeys to needy families.