Tickertape Parades: A Salute to Heroes


Ticker tape parade in New York City in honor of the Apollo 11 astronauts in 1969. (NASA photo via Wikimedia Commons)
Ticker tape parade in New York City in honor of the Apollo 11 astronauts in 1969. (NASA photo via Wikimedia Commons)

On this date in in 1886 the first tickertape parade was held in New York City.

Here are some things you may not of known about tickertape parades.

The first parade was an impromptu celebration following the dedication of the Statue of Liberty.

They’re called tickertape parades because originally most of the paper thrown was used paper tape from stock ticker machines.

The traditional route tickertape parade in New York City is northbound on Broadway from Bowling Green to City Hall Park through the city’s financial district.

That portion of Broadway is lined with tall buildings allowing workers of the buildings to throw paper from the windows.

The second tickertape parade was held in 1889 in celebration of the 100th anniversary of George Washington’s inauguration as president of United States. It would be another 10 years before the next tickertape parade was held.

The first sports hero to be honored with a tickertape parade was Jim Thorpe following the 1912 Olympics.

The first head of state to be honored with the tickertape parade was King Albert and Queen Elisabeth of Belgium in 1919.

The first sitting American president to be honored with the tickertape parade was Harry Truman in 1945 following World War II.

There’ve been a total of 206 tickertape parades , the most recent honoring the US women’s soccer team that won the World Cup in 2015. The most recent parade held in honor of a non-sporting event was in 1998 when John Glenn and the crew of the space shuttle Discovery were honored.

According to the New York City Department of sanitation. The average sports championship parade is showered with about 50 tons of paper. That amount pales in comparison to the more than 5000 tons of paper dumped for the parade celebrating VJ day in 1945.

Our question: what was the first professional sports team honored with a tickertape parade in New York City?

It’s unofficially National chocolate day, national breadstick day, and national bandanna day.

It’s the birthday of writer Evelyn Waugh, who was born in 1903; Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, who is 61; and actress Julia Roberts, who is 49.

Because our topic happened before 1960, we’ll spin the wheel to pick a year at random.

This week in 1969, the top song in the U.S. was “Suspicious Minds” by Elvis Presley.

The No. 1 movie was “ Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” while the novel “ The Godfather” by Mario Puzo topped the New York Times Bestsellers list.

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