New York Knicks parade brings generations of fans into the streets

MANHATTAN — New York is celebrating the Knicks in classic style Thursday, throwing a ticker-tape parade for the team that brought home the NBA championship longed for by generations of fans.

The Knicks’ victory — after a 53-year drought — has electrified New Yorkers. Thousands of fans flooded lower Manhattan with splashes of Knicks blue and orange for the parade up the skyscraper-flanked “Canyon of Heroes.” Police said all the viewing pens along the route filled up more than three hours before the procession began at 10:30 a.m.

Karl-Anthony Towns hoisted the Eastern Conference championship trophy and a cigar in his mouth on top of a parade bus, alongside a dancing Mayor Zohran Mamdani — a huge Knicks fan. On a nearby float with other alumni, Carmelo Anthony had a victory cigar of his own.

“New Yorkers are, as they say, ‘lit’ right now,” Anthony said. “The whole city won.”

Film director Spike Lee, perhaps the team’s most iconic fan, was also soaking it in.

“I’ve never been to a parade — ever — and I’m glad it’s this one,” Lee said.

OG Anunoby, who scored the go-ahead basket in Game 4 on a tip-in with 1.2 seconds left, left his float to interact with fans, holding the NBA Cup in-season championship trophy in one hand and a bottle of Patron tequila in the other.

The parade will end at City Hall, where players are expected to get keys to the city.

Knicks fans turn out in force

People streamed into the area on crammed subways, looking to get as close as they could or find any elevated spot to catch a glimpse.

Several blocks from the parade route, fans stood shoulder to shoulder — sometimes on each other’s shoulders — or climbed traffic lights, sanitation trucks or Knicks-colored buckets they’d brought from home. Far away on the Brooklyn Bridge, people gathered just to hear the loudspeakers.

“I had to be here today,” said Shareefa Wallace, 34, who got up at 3 a.m. to make her way from suburban Long Island. She grew up in the city going to Knicks games, and she sported the souvenir jersey of one of the legends from that era, Patrick Ewing.

She arrived at 7 a.m., too late to get into one of the viewing pens, but “we have to soak up what she can get,” said Wallace, a school psychologist who was on summer break.

‘The New York vibe’

Nearby bars and delis filled with fans, some wishing they’d arrived at dawn. But many seemed at peace with the fact that they would only experience the parade from a distance.

“We’re fine with the fray, we just want to be with the New York energy and the New York vibe,” said Jean Strong, who came to the parade from Harlem with his nephew and sister.

Terrell Emerson, a chef who grew up in Queens before leaving New York, said he’d driven from Maryland with his daughter Madison – named in honor of the Knicks home arena, Madison Square Garden.

Madison, beaming, held a handwritten sign announcing she’d skipped her fifth-grade graduation to be in attendance.

“It’s been 53 years — come on. That was a no-brainer,” Emerson said.

Stars and Knicks legends

Knicks legend Walt “Clyde” Frazier — a member of the ’70s champion teams — was riding along in style, wearing his NBA title rings. A person familiar with the plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the details before they were publicly announced, said Knicks play-by-play announcer Mike Breen was set to emcee the City Hall ceremony.

Alicia Keys, the singer who collaborated with Jay-Z on the New York-loving 2009 hit “Empire State of Mind,” has been tapped to perform.

“How could I not?” Keys said Wednesday in a social media video that featured her on the phone with Knicks forward OG Anunoby.

A parade decades in the making

The mere fact that the parade is happening is historic in itself. Although the Knicks won the championship twice in the 1970s, the city didn’t host a parade for them either time. Then-Mayor John Lindsay had cut down on ticker-tape extravaganzas for financial and other reasons, and he instead honored the Knicks at a 1970 reception at the mayoral mansion and a jam-packed 1973 ceremony outside City Hall.

This time, the city is going all out. A police officer could be seen holding a sign reading, “This is really happening.”

And a massive security operation

Police plan to deploy 10,000 officers to secure the event, which follows ebullient but sometimes chaotic street celebrations and some violence during the Knicks’ run to victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

At one point before the parade, a small group of people were crushed against a barrier near Fulton Street, a key subway hub, pinned between a swelling crowd and a group of police officers shoving the barrier to keep fans penned in.

Some 650 sanitation workers have been assigned to clean up what could be tens of thousands of pounds (kilograms) of debris, if recent history is any guide.

Why does New York throw ticker-tape parades?

Ticker-tape parades derive their name from the narrow strips of paper used by telegraph-era “stock ticker” machines. New York brokerage firm workers took to tossing the paper out their office windows during parades in the late 19th century, adding a swirling aerial spectacle to the festivities.

Over the years, especially up to the mid-1960s, the city rolled out ticker-tape parades to honor visiting foreign leaders, mark historic anniversaries and hail feats in aviation, war, sports, music, space travel and more.

The Knicks’ parade will be the 210th, and it comes after a ticker-tape bash for the WNBA’s New York Liberty in 2024.

Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz, Julie Walker and Stephen Whyno in New York and AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney in Southampton, New York, contributed.