So­ca star Machel Mon­tano was giv­en the ho­n­our of lead­ing the Labour Day Pa­rade as a Grand Mar­shal in New York ear­li­er this week. Mon­tano who is now the youngest per­son to ever hold the ti­tle of Grand Mar­shal of the Labour Day pa­rade, was cho­sen along­side in­ter­na­tion­al­ly ac­claimed ac­tor, singer, and so­cial ac­tivist, Har­ry Be­la­fonte, and City Coun­cil Speak­er Chris­tine C Quinn.

The pa­rade which is now in its 45th year is one of the largest cel­e­bra­tions of Caribbean cul­ture in North Amer­i­ca. New York's Labour Day pa­rade is host­ed by the West In­di­an Amer­i­can Day Car­ni­val As­so­ci­a­tion (WIAD­CA) and at­tracts over three mil­lion par­tic­i­pants.

Every year the pa­rade is led by spe­cial­ly cho­sen Grand Mar­shals, who have in­clud­ed Gen­er­al Col­in Pow­ell, the May­or of New York, Michael Bloomberg and even the present Gov­er­nor of New York, An­drew Cuo­mo. Mon­tano al­so re­ceived a Con­gres­sion­al Procla­ma­tion from Charles B Rangel, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the Fif­teenth Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict of New York in the Unit­ed States House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives, recog­nis­ing his out­stand­ing achieve­ments as a per­former and song writer.­