Two years ago, Mother Nature didn’t cooperate with the planned East Boston Columbus Day Parade that year. Driving rain, the remnants of Hurricane Matthew that swept up the East Coast, saturated the area, and parade organizers made the very difficult and painful decision to cancel the event for the first time in its history.

However, the parade’s Chief Marshall Joseph Ruggiero said the parade will return this year and will be bigger and better than ever. “We have over four divisions marching in this year’s parade which will kickoff at 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 7 at the corner of Wally and Bennington streets,” said Ruggiero. “The Shriners division has gotten even bigger this year and have all sorts of fun stuff planned for kids. Santa will make a special visit and of course many local organizations will be marching.