No Burning Questions at Real McCoy

Thousands of people jammed Fifth Avenue on a rainy Sunday for the Puerto Rican Day Parade--the subject of a controversial “Seinfeld” episode a month ago.

This year’s parade came after an episode of NBC’s “Seinfeld” in which a character accidentally burned the island’s flag, angering Puerto Rican groups.

“He disrespected us by burning the flag like that, it wasn’t right,” said Jennifer Roman, a 23-year-old accountant from New Jersey. “We’re basically celebrating our culture. Every county from Puerto Rico is represented today.”

Others said they were unfazed by the show in which the lead characters--Kramer, Elaine, Jerry and George--got stuck in a traffic jam because of the parade. In one scene, Kramer accidentally sets the Puerto Rican flag on fire and stomps it out.

“Maybe he shouldn’t have burned the flag, but people do it to the American flag,” said 23-year-old Elena Matias, a court clerk from New Brunswick, N.J. “I think people have better things to be worrying about.”

Proud Puerto Ricans fashioned the ubiquitous flag into capes, caps, scarves, sweatbands, necklaces and even fingernail polish for the 40th annual parade.

“I came here to have fun and to represent the culture,” said Aixa Colon, a 16-year-old from the Bronx whose nails were painted red, white and blue with a lone white star.

As the parade kicked off at noon, a light drizzle quickly gave way to a heavy downpour.

But soggy revelers never showed they were uncomfortable or dispirited. As scores of politicians, floats and bands went by, they screamed, blew whistles and danced, many of them clutching umbrellas.

Police reported no arrests and had no estimate of the number of marchers and spectators. In previous years as many as 2 million showed up, and this year’s turnout appeared to be as strong.