{"id":270706,"date":"2026-06-18T11:20:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/270706\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T11:20:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:20:16","slug":"what-is-a-ticker-tape-parade-a-short-history-of-the-nyc-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/270706\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is a Ticker-Tape Parade? A Short History of the NYC Tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Estimated3 min read<\/p>\n

Mere minutes after the Knicks took the fifth game<\/a> of the NBA championship and officially claimed the Larry O\u2019Brien Trophy, Mayor Zohran Mamdani sent out two messages on X. The first read, \u201cHISTORY.\u201d a response to the New York basketball team\u2019s winning of the first title since 1973. The second was \u201cParade. Thursday. Manhattan\u201d\u2014an announcement thousands of fans were waiting for. In New York, mayors alone have the ability to call a ticker-tape parade<\/a>, and they don\u2019t happen very often (the last one was in November 2025). Below, read more about the time-honored tradition, and what today\u2019s parade, which will begin at 10 a.m., might look like.<\/p>\n

What is \u201cticker-tape\u201d?<\/p>\n

The number one question facing all New Yorkers on Thursday morning: What exactly is ticker-tape? It all comes back to the time and place: Wall Street and the Gilded Age. Back then, shifting stock prices, which came fast and furious all day (as they do now, albeit digitally), were reported automatically on little pieces of paper, from where the modern stock ticker, the name of a stock, originates. The resulting paper filled offices all across Wall Street, but the moment after it printed, it became irrelevant. It was the ideal basis for the confetti that rained down during the first, impromptu Wall Street parade for the Statue of Liberty in 1886. Note, there is no tape involved, the name comes from the sound of the telegraph machines as they spat out the stock prices.<\/p>\n

\"HoustonHouston Chronicle\/Hearst Newspapers\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

A ticker-tape telegraph in 1983.<\/p>\n

What is the Canyon of Heroes?<\/p>\n

The parades, which originated in New York but have expanded to cities large and small around the country (see a very memorable scene in Ferris Bueller\u2019s Day Off, which is set in Chicago), are traditionally held in the \u201cCanyon of Heroes.\u201d The \u201ccanyon\u201d is just under a mile, stretching from the Battery, at the Southern most tip of the city to City Hall. Each parade is commemorated with a stone plaque. \u201cCanyon\u201d comes from the line of mountainous skyscrapers that make-up the silhouette of downtown.<\/p>\n

\"CelebrityTheStewartofNY\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The New York Liberty women\u2019s basketball team celebrates in the Canyon of Heroes during their ticker-tape parade in October 2024.<\/p>\n

When did ticker-tape parades begin in New York City?<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s parade for the Knicks is the first for the team, but the tradition is more than a century old. In 1886, the city honored the dedication of the Statue of Liberty with a an impromptu parade downtown, during which revelers threw ticker tape, in lieu of streamers, from the office buildings above. Subsequent parades were held in honor of the centennial of George Washington\u2019s inauguration (1889), Theodore Roosevelt\u2019s African expedition (1910), Olympic runner Jesse Owens\u2019 gold medal (1936), the Apollo 11 astronauts\u2019 safe return (1969), along with visits from royals, popes, and foreign dignitaries, including Queen Elizabeth II (1957)<\/a>, and Nelson Mandela (1990). (You might even see a ticker-tape parade in the upcoming season of The Gilded Age if the set photos are any indication.)<\/p>\n

For the last few decades, during which the parades have become less frequent, they have primarily honored New York sports teams, like the Yankees, the Giants, and most recently the New York Liberty basketball team (2024) and Gotham FC soccer team<\/a> (2025). Today\u2019s parade is only the fourth of the 2020s, the first of which honored healthcare professionals and essential workers in 2021.<\/p>\n

See ticker-tape parades throughout history:\"Jesse<\/p>\n

1936<\/p>\n

Jesse Owens, Olympic Champion<\/p>\n

Transcendental Graphics\/\/Getty Images\"Ticker<\/p>\n

1932<\/p>\n

Amelia Earhart, following her transatlantic flight<\/p>\n

Historical\/\/Getty Images\"Elisabeth<\/p>\n

1957<\/p>\n

ullstein bild Dtl.\/\/Getty Images\"Apollo<\/p>\n

1969<\/p>\n

Bettmann\/\/Getty Images\"Nelson<\/p>\n

1990<\/p>\n

Nelson Mandela, following his release from prison<\/p>\n

New York Daily News\/\/Getty Images\"NBC<\/p>\n

2008<\/p>\n

The New York Giants, including Michael Strahan and Payton Manning, win the Super Bowl<\/p>\n

NBC NewsWire\/\/Getty Images\""Hometown<\/p>\n

2021<\/p>\n

Healthcare and essential workers are thanked following the Covid-19 Pandemic<\/p>\n

Noam Galai\/\/Getty Images\"New<\/p>\n

2024<\/p>\n

The New York Liberty win the 2024 WNBA Championship<\/p>\n

Elsa\/\/Getty Images\"NJ\/NY<\/p>\n

2025<\/p>\n

The Gotham FC women\u2019s soccer team wins the National Women\u2019s Soccer League championship<\/p>\n

Ira L. Black\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

At 10 am, on Thursday, June 18, Knicks fans will line up all along the Canyon to celebrate the players who finally brought home the Championship<\/a>. After waiting 53 years, what\u2019s a few hours on line?<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Dorothy Scarborough (she\/her) is the assistant to the Editor in Chief of Town & Country and Elle Decor.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"3 min read Mere minutes after the Knicks took the fifth game of the NBA championship and officially…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[567,104418,569,83931,568,9,56,63,65,64,57015,104417,94966],"class_list":["post-270706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-6f53dfbf-2e23-4508-b1dc-e1c8219a26e9","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-us","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-read_time-4","tag-shorttitle-a-short-history-of-ticker-tape-parades-in-new-york","tag-subsection-sporting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}