If you walk up Broadway starting at Bowling Green and walk to City Hall Park, look at the ground. Strewn about the pavement you will see black granite strips with names and dates on them. You have entered the Canyon of Heroes. The names on these black granite strips are the names of people, teams, troops, etc that were given ticker tape parades in NYC.
As you walk along the Canyon of Heroes, if you look up you will see tall office buildings on either side creating a "concrete canyon" if you will - hence the nickname "Canyon of Heroes."
A tradition parade route was northward from Bowling Green to City Hall Park. Anywhere from 50 to 5, 438 tons of paper confetti would be thrown on the heroes from the tall offices on either side during the parades. (The most was August 15, 1945, during the VJ Day parade celebrating the end of World War II.)
The very FIRST ticker tape parade was held October 28th, 1886, during the dedication of the Statue of Liberty. The confetti was made out of the paper output of ticker tape machines which used to provide updated sock brokerage quotes. (Hence the name "ticker tape parade.") Today - the paper is repurposed from paper shredders or confetti the city provides.
Some heroes of note honored by ticker tape parade include Albert Einstein (the only scientist to ever be honored with a ticker tape parade!), Charles Linbergh (following his solo transatlantic flight), Jesse Owens (for winning 4 Olympic medals in track & field) in Nazi Germany), Howard Hughes (for a 3 day flight around the world), Winston Churchill (for just being his awesome self), Carol Heiss (Olympic Figure Skater), Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and Michael Collins (for their manned mission to the moon), and the American hostages released from Iran in 1981.
If you are thinking these parades are a thing of the past - you'd be wrong. THe most recent was held February 7, 2012 for the New York Giants after their Super Bowl victory!
No comments:
Post a Comment