On Thursday, the New York Knicks head to Lower Manhattan for their first-ever ticker-tape parade, which celebrates the team’s thrilling NBA championship win over the San Antonio Spurs. The parade is the 210th such march held on Broadway since 1886, the first of which marked the dedication of the Statue of Liberty. In the 140 years since, the city has celebrated victorious returning troops, heads of state, famous explorers, champion athletes and, in 2021, NYC’s essential workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since 1919, the mayor of New York has decided who will receive a ticker-tape parade; our most recent official recipients were the New York Liberty in October 2024.
The “ticker-tape” used to fete these celebrants was initially a one-inch-wide ribbon of paper on which the “ticker” machine recorded telegraphed stock quotes. Brokerage firms using the ticker machine proliferated in Lower Manhattan, and provided an abundant supply of scrap paper. In the latter part of the 19th century, skyscrapers replaced low buildings and turned the narrow downtown streets into stone canyons. Office workers quickly discovered that ticker tape sent swirling into the air created a dramatic effect. The first officially organized ticker-tape parades welcomed home the victorious soldiers of World War I.
In the modern era, the Downtown Alliance sources the “ticker- tape,” now actual confetti. The Alliance also embeds a granite market for each parade in the sidewalks along Broadway, stretching along the ticker-tape parade route from Battery Place to Chambers Street.
You can find the full history of ticker-tape parades on our website; we also have a list of every single ticker-tape parade held in the city here, and you can read full accounts of those parades here. For more on the history of NYC’s ticker-tape parades, be sure check out this SNY video from 2025 featuring Downtown Alliance president Jessica Lappin. Attending the parade? Here’s what the city needs you to know when it comes to street and subway closures, what to bring (and what not to bring), and what time you need to show up (hint: early). And if you’re looking for a bite to eat post-parade, we’ve got some tasty resources for you.
