I went to -My First NYC Tickertape Parade- for the Moon Astros!
I'd seen brief footage over the previous years recounting various massive ticker tape parades here in NYC. The "blizzard" of confetti. They looked fabulous! 😄
So the city was going to honor them. Oh, wow! My sister, and I decided to go. I can't remember if I'd ever been down near Wall St [Lower Manhattan], say, on Broadway yet by myself. (As a kid my dad drove us down to the Battery [southern tip of Manhattan] to have the car go on The Staten Island Ferry - early mid 1960s)
So we get off the #4 subway train, and very slowly because of the packed crowd of people heading to the streets we go up, and around two turns of a sort of narrow staircase. Patient, but a bit anxious about possibly missing them. Finally we get outside.
It was July, so yeah, it was on the hot side but not really humid. We gingerly made our way to the police baricade, either right at them, or sort of in between half a person back from those that were.
The anticipation, and excitement built. I might have had a transistor radio on me. What I did have was a little Kodak Instamatic camera! Finally we could hear the crowd roaring in the distance about 1/2 a mile south of us.
They were on their way!
The roar of a wall of cheers ever building towards our spot. A couple of blocks away we really saw the confetti, and other papers began to rain down. Wow!
Finally, there they were in a (maybe silver) open car: Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins. Waving, and looking at us cheering for them. The confetti flying around us And, yes, I got a photo of them! Armstrong pointing back our way. The others looking in various directions.
After they passed us we woubd our way up closer to where the streets open up at the southern triangular tip of the 4 block City Hall Park. There we stopped. There were speeches, cheers, and the Mayor gave them the keys to the city. More cheers!
Finally we headed home, buzzing with excitement of the day.
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Since then I've been by myself, or either with my sister at various times to at least 4 more parades.
At least 2 Yankees World Championships, the 1986 Mets(!), and Space related again - for John Glenn's space ride at ?80 yrs old.
The most fabulously unexpected one for me was the '86 Mets. Not because they won (which was fabulous!). Because there amongst, what, a quarter to half a million people I'm going northward on Church St the avenue just west of Broadway. I decide to go towards Broadway. I turn going eastward, and run right into- my sister! All those people!
Delighted laughter. Omg, hiiii! 😄