The Liberty’s WNBA title win was the first basketball championship in NYC in decades — and now the party plans are underway, with a parade set for Thursday through the Canyon of Heroes in lower Manhattan, followed by a City Hall ceremony. NBC New York’s Jessica Cunnington reports.
New York City has been site of around 200 celebratory ticker-tape parades in history, many of them through the famed "Canyon of Heroes" in Lower Manhattan.
As of late, most of the parades have been dedicated to celebrating sports championships, with the last one of those honoring the 2019 U.S. women's World Cup team. The Giants were the last local sports team honored following a championship in 2011 and the Yankees in 2009.
In 2021, first responders and frontline workers were honored for their work during the COVID pandemic.
The Canyon of Heroes has become the iconic location for championship parades and celebrations in New York City.
Where is the 'Canyon of Heroes'?
The Canyon of Heroes runs on Broadway from the Battery to City Hall through the Financial District.
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The parade route is marked with commemorative plates of major past parades.
Why is it called the Canyon of Heroes?
The stretch of Broadway in Lower Manhattan where ticker-tape parades is called that because of all the tall buildings and skyscrapers of the financial district that surround the honorees as they go up the street with confetti and ticker-tape surrounding them.
Who gets a ticker-tape parade?
It's not just winning sports teams that are honored with a party in Lower Manhattan.
Here's a list of some of the most notable honorees:
- 1910 – Theodore Roosevelt, following return from his African expedition.
- 1931 – Wiley Post and Harold Gatty following round-the-world flight.
- 1936 – Jesse Owens following winning four gold medals in the 1936 Summer Olympics.
- 1946 – Winston Churchill, former prime minister of the United Kingdom.
- 1951 – Women of the armed forces
- 1960 – John F. Kennedy, Democratic presidential nominee.
- 1962 – New York Yankees, winners of the World Series.
- 1969 – Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, following the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon.
- 1980 – American hostages released from Iran.
- 1990 – Nelson Mandela of South Africa.
- 2008 – New York Giants championship in Super Bowl XLII.
