Martin Rybak, who runs the family business Piast Meats & Provisions in Garfield, New Jersey, has been selected Grand Marshal of the 90th Pulaski Day Parade. The anniversary parade will march up Fifth Avenue in New York City on Sunday, October 3, 2027, with Rybak at its head.
Rybak was nominated by Arkadiusz “Eric” Bagiński, the 2025 Grand Marshal, at a meeting of the General Pulaski Memorial Parade Committee on October 15, 2026, in Clark, New Jersey. No other candidates were put forward, and those present approved him unanimously.
He accepted congratulations with his family at his side: his wife Joanna and their three children. Dr. Iwona Korga, Grand Marshal of this year’s 89th parade, also attended. The committee is chaired by Richard Zawisny.
An anniversary for the largest Polish American parade
Every October, Polish community groups from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania march up Fifth Avenue, each with its own marshals and its own Miss Polonia. Rybak himself calls it the largest Polish parade in the world. The Grand Marshal leads the entire parade. In 2026 that role was held by Dr. Iwona Korga, president of the Józef Piłsudski Institute of America, and the year before by Arkadiusz Bagiński.
The year 2027 carries a double anniversary. Besides the parade’s 90th edition, it marks 250 years since General Casimir Pulaski arrived in America in July 1777. Rybak says he will work closely with the Pulaski Parade Committee so that the anniversary highlights the contribution Polish Americans have made to the United States.
From Garfield to Fifth Avenue, following his father
For the Rybak family, the parade is a family affair. Martin’s first Pulaski Day Parade was in 2008, when Jolanta Paz, a cousin of his future wife, represented Garfield as Miss Polonia. That same year he joined the Garfield Pulaski Parade Committee of St. Stanislaus parish. In 2011 his father, Henry Rybak, served as Garfield’s parade marshal, and Martin marched beside him up Fifth Avenue together with Piast’s employees.
Henry and Maria Rybak founded Piast Meats & Provisions in 1991. Today the company runs its stores in Garfield, offers catering, and has long supported Polish schools, parishes, organizations and sports clubs in America and in Poland. After his father’s sudden death in 2020, Martin took on responsibility for the family business. A full portrait of Martin Rybak and his family’s company will follow in our “Who’s Who in Polonia” series.
“Let’s show the world how big our Polish community is”
The selection came as a surprise. “I didn’t expect this at all. It’s a tremendous honor,” Martin Rybak told Super Express USA. What matters most to him is turnout: “Let’s show the world how big our Polish community is!”
Those words sum up his approach. Rather than grand promises, Rybak talks about working with the committee and meeting groups from all four states. He is counting on young people, noting that more of them have been coming to the parade in recent years, and he encourages families to bring their children to Polish community events. More about the company he runs is available in the Piast Meats & Provisions profile on PolishPages.
What comes next
The official presentation of the Grand Marshal’s sash is planned for January; the ceremony is traditionally held at the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in New York. Starting in February, sash ceremonies are held for the marshals of individual groups and for Miss Polonia. The committee begins preparing each parade as soon as the previous one ends, and the first invitations to anniversary guests have already gone out.
Save the date now: Sunday, October 3, 2027, Fifth Avenue, New York City. Poland.us will cover the preparations for the anniversary parade and the parade itself.
The Poland.us team congratulates Martin Rybak and the entire Rybak family. Contact details and store hours for Piast are listed in the PolishPages directory of Polish businesses.
