Haitian Flag Day, Parade In Worcester Coming This Weekend

WORCESTER, MA — Worcester will mark Haitian Flag Day this weekend, celebrating the heritage of the nation while memorializing turmoil that has caused an influx of Haitian migrants to Massachusetts.

The celebrations will begin Friday morning with a parade beginning at Gala Foods along Main Street at 9 a.m. The parade will travel to Worcester City Hall, where the Haitian flag will be hoisted.

The celebrations will continue on Saturday at the MSGR. Ducharme Social Center at St. Joseph Church along Dupont Street. That event will last 3 to 6 p.m.

An estimated 14,000 Haitian have arrived in Massachusetts over the last several years following the assassination of former president Jovenel Moïse in 2021, an event that threw the country into deeper turmoil. Violent gangs have run rampant in the country ever since, and have killed, injured or kidnapped over 8,000 people in 2023, according to United Nations estimates. Newer arrivals followed a wave of previous Haitian migrants who fled the nation after devastating earthquakes and hurricanes over the last decade.

This is the 9th annual Haitian Flag Day celebration planned by the Haitian-American Socio-Cultural Association of Worcester led by Rosette Gazemar.