10:56 a.m. People mill. It's 39 degrees, a balloon measures the wind. Underwhelming views, too far away, so far.

A streaming cam at EarthCam, on Fifth Avenue one block south of St. Patrick's Cathedral, is to offer a live view of the Easter Parade Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Another cam is live now, showing a new frame about every two seconds; sometimes it abruptly switches perspectives.

There is no official parade, of course, no floats, no celebrity commenters. This is as close to a Flash mob as history offers -- it started spontaneously in the 1870s. A 10-block stretch of Fifth Avenue from 47th to 57th Streets is closed to traffic as folks promenade in Easter finery and scenic hats, and others gather to gawk. (That NYC advisory says from 1 to 5 p.m.)

At right, a parader from an earlier year outside St. Patrick's Cathedral.

AP
New York City during an Easter Parade in the late 1800s.

Religion and American Culture By David G. Hackett includes a chapter by Leigh Eric Schmidt titled The Easter Parade: Fashion, Piety and Display which you can read in its entirety at that Google Books link on its title. It documents the pageantry, from the emergence of lavishly decorated churches and the Fifth Avenue Parade to the ensuing criticism over extravagance and the true meaning of Easter.

As a little girl I remember pastel hats with wide ribbons and too-tight elastics under my chin to keep them on my head. Sometimes I wore them in snow.

The forecast for tomorrow is sunny and windy, highs around 50. They'll be holding on to their hats. Or hunting down fetching elastic chin straps or ribbons.