SPATA at the 2026 Pulaski Day Parade in New York City

On October 4, 2026 the Society of Polish American Travel Agents attended the annual Pulaski Day Parade in New York City that attracts over 250,000 Poles from the tri-state area and across the United States. SPATA marched in the parade together with LOT Polish Airlines that included representatives Dorota Dmuchowska, Board Member and Chief Operating Officer, Ewa Lampart, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, as well as Agnieszka Kulikowski, Acting Director of Sales, US&CA. Representatives of SPATA included president Honorata Pierwola and husband member Edward Pierwola, vice-president Peter Pachacz and member wife Krystyna Pachacz, treasurer Maria Dedza, the selected SPATA Marshall Peter Barna and Miss Polonia Natalia Furman.

At the Pulaski Day Parade Breakfast, SPATA president Honorata Pierwola had the honor of meeting Andrzej Poczobut, the Belarusian journalist, opposition figure, activist of the Polish minority in Belarus and political prisoner. On 11 November 2025, during the Polish Independence Day, President of Poland Karol Nawrocki awarded Poczobut with an Order of the White Eagle for “actively and decisively confronting the manifestations of resurgent neo-totalitarian regimes”. In 2011 and 2021, Poczobut was awarded the title of Journalist of the Year at the Polish journalistic contest Grand Press, in April 2023, he was awarded the IAPC Freedom of Speech Award, in October 2025 he received the Sakharov Prize.