Children watch as the Dorchester Day Parade passes by along Dorchester Avenue.

Skyla James, 9, and Aiden Williams, 14, hang out before performing Caribbean dances with Stages Cultural Arts Center.

Boston City Councilor Erin Murphy, left, interim Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden, Attorney General Maura Healey, Mayor Michelle Wu, Rep. Nika Eluguardo, Rep. Russell Holmes and Boston CIty Councilor Ricardo Arroyo were among the local officials at the ribbon cutting to begin the Dorchester Day Parade.

Following a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the 116th Dorchester Day Parade returned Sunday along Dorchester Avenue from Lower Mills to Savin Hill at the intersection of Columbia Road.

Elected officials and hopefuls gathered at the start of the 3.2- mile route for a ribbon-cutting as a handful of anti-vaccination and anti-mask protesters heckled Mayor Michelle Wu, who attended with her two young sons accompanying her on scooters.

The celebration marks the day in 1630 when Puritans landed at what is now the Columbia Point section of the neighborhood to found Dorchester as one of the earliest English settlements in Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Traditionally held the first Sunday in June, marchers included dance troupes, Dorchester Baseball players, floats from Little Saigon and Dorchester Brewing Company, as well as bands and color guards.

The parade is an important stop for local and statewide political campaigns, as it makes its way through a traditionally politically active neighborhood of 113,000 people.

This year, participants expressed their excitement to perform once again.

“It’s awesome to be back,” said Licia McLean, co-owner of 4 Star Dance Studio. “It’s been a long haul through the pandemic, and we’re just glad the kids are able to come back out and be a part of this while we trying to still get through it.”