New York Knicks Set for Historic Ticker Tape Parade: Everything to Know About the Storied Tradition
By Rena Gross
It was a moment that New York City basketball fans and Spike Lee in particular had waited over five decades for. The New York Knicks won the NBA finals. The Knicks will now, for the first time, join fellow champions and legendary world leaders with an honorary ticker tape parade, one of the highest signs of love that the Big Apple can give. This Thursday, June 18, Jalen Brunson and crew will proceed up a joyous Canyon of Heroes.
The story of the ticker tape parade begins the day that the Statue of Liberty was dedicated, in 1886. It couldn’t be more American. Financial office workers along Broadway wanted to be part of the parade, but they had to stay in the office. The solution lay in the old glass bulb-topped ticker machines, which generated stock price quotes onto thin strips of paper on a running basis. They took their names from the ticking sound that they made. The office-bound workers flung open the windows and let the paper strips that normally made giant, tangled pools on the floor flow out the window to celebrate Lady Liberty. Everyone loved the effect, and a tradition was born.
Recipients of an official ticker tape parade receive a plaque along the Broadway parade path. To walk north and look down in is to receive refresher in civic American and world history. There’s Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Olympic athletes, Elizabeth II, Apollo mission astronauts, and soon, the Knicks. The plaques were set up by the Downtown Alliance in the early aughts as part of their revitalization efforts. A new one is added for every parade, moving north. There is no need to worry about running out of space any time soon: at the current rate of several ticker tape parades per decade, it would take roughly 15,000 years for the plaques to reach the northern tip of Manhattan.
The landscape of the Canyon of Heroes has changed over the decades. Skyscrapers have bloomed, set world records, and been exceeded. Confetti replaced ticker tape as the machines became obsolete in the 60s and 70s. But the spirit remains the same. Hooray New York, and go, Knicks.
The ticker tape parade for 2026 NBA Champions, the New York Knicks, will take place on June 18 at 10 a.m. EST, starting at the Battery and proceeding up Broadway to City Hall. Early arrival is advised.
This article was originally published by Galerie Magazine.