In 1886, during a miles-long parade celebrating the dedication of the Statue of Liberty, office workers in lower Manhattan began heaving ticker tape out the windows, creating a magical, blizzard-like landscape.
That tradition stuck. Today that particular corridor of Broadway — connecting Battery Park to City Hall — is known as the “Canyon of Heroes” thanks to the popularity of the ticker-tape parade.
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While many cities with skyscrapers host ticker-tape parades today, New York was the place they originated in the late 19th century and for a very obvious reason — the ticker-tape itself, a byproduct of the Financial District which revolutionized the way stocks were traded.
New York has regularly honored athletes, politicians, pilots, kings and queens, astronauts and generals with ticker-tape parades for over 125 years. Today, they’re best known as a way to celebrate New York sports teams, the winners of the World Series, the Super Bowl or the Stanley Cup.
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The story of the ticker-tape parade is also a story of modern American history in capsule form, celebrating technological achievements, victories in war, cultural milestones and international unity.
Greg and Tom are back in the studio to give you a rundown of New York’s greatest parades. And they also pay tribute to those other local heroes — the Department of Sanitation who cleans up after these festive but messy celebrations.
LISTEN NOW: THE TICKER-TAPE PARADE
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Parade for the 1924 Olympians, New York Times, August 7, 1924
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Parade for the Statue of Liberty dedication, New York Times, October 29, 1886
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Roosevelt’s return from safari, New York Tribune, June 19, 1910
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The parade for Gertrude Ederle, Brooklyn Citizen, August 27, 1926
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Ederle’s accomplishments and her ticker-tape parade are depicted in the Disney+ film The Young Woman and the Sea
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A reimagined ticker-tape parade — for a celebration inspired by the Moon landing — recently appeared in the film Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny