It's really too bad, because up until that point, it had been a fabulous day (& they did arrest some suspects & confiscate weapons fairly quickly -- while managing to calm down the crowd quickly & carry on with the show, with the prime minister, premier, mayor & entire team all remaining onstage).
I wasn't there -- although I did watch all 6.5 hours of coverage (!) on television from our condo, about a 45-minute drive/45-minute subway ride (on a normal day!) from the festivities. I had asked dh if he wanted to go -- he's followed the team from Day One, 24 years ago now, and was ecstatic when they won. He said maybe if he was 20 years younger, lol. We both knew it was going to be nuts downtown (and it was!) and a pain to get there & get home again -- not to mention standing around all day in the middle of a crowd, waiting for the parade to pass in the blink of an eye, getting hungry and wondering where the nearest bathroom was. ;)
The TV coverage was slotted from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with the idea that the team would arrive at city hall around 12-12:30ish & they would have everything wrapped by 1:30-2. There were so many people along the parade route -- an estimated TWO MILLION PEOPLE -- that they didn't even get to city hall until almost 3:30. The shootings happened just before 4 :( and the program wrapped up by 4:30.
I watched several victory parades, live, over the 28 years (1986-2014) that I worked on Bay Street in downtown Toronto's financial district, a few blocks south of city hall. I think the first was in 1987, when sprinter Ben Johnson won a world championship, and paraded up Bay Street to a reception at city hall -- a year before he won the gold medal at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea, and then had it taken away when he tested positive for drugs.
There were a couple of times when the Toronto Argonauts (CFL football team) won the Grey Cup championship, and a parade of Summer Olympic heroes, back in 2012, I think. Those parades passed directly in front of the building on Bay Street next door to where I worked, and the crowds, while a respectable size, were nothing like they were today. I was able to leave my desk about 20 minutes before the parade was scheduled to pass by, get a prime viewing spot, wave, cheer and take photos as the parade passed, and get back to my desk, all in more or less my allotted lunch hour. :)
A little closer to this experience (and the biggest parades the city has seen before today), I also went to one of the Blue Jays' World Series (baseball) victory parades, some 26-27 years ago now (they won back to back, 1992 & 1993). I forget which was which, but one parade was held on the weekend, and one was on a weekday (the one I went to). My boss said she wanted to go, so she & I walked a few blocks over to a spot on the route during our lunch hour to see what we could see -- which was not much, lol. The crowds were huge, we were obviously arriving late, and I mostly saw the tops of people's heads as the parade cars passed by. The other thing I remember most about that day is that on our way back to the office, I stopped & bought a sausage on a bun from a street vendor for lunch -- and was sick to my stomach a few hours later. That was the last time I bought food from a street vendor, lol.
I've always told people that the ultimate parade would be if/when the Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL hockey team) win another Stanley Cup (the last time was in 1967 -- 52 years ago!! -- when dh was 10). But I'll be honest -- I'm not sure anything could top this! Check out some of the parade coverage online... the images are amazing. Pretty cool to watch (especially once they got downtown & I knew exactly where they were by the buildings and street signs along the way!).
Have you ever been to a big sports victory parade like this?
You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.
Oh no, I heard something about a shooting at a city hall, and I did not realize it was in Toronto for your Raptor victory! :( I'm glad you weren't there, sheesh. How sad for those who were celebrating and had it become tragic instead. That sounds like fun if you are a big sports fan, which I am not... I have been to St Patrick's Day parades, but no sports victory parades. It sounds like a great way to spend your lunch hour though, how fun must that have been!
ReplyDeleteI was so sad to hear about this but so glad they have the suspects and prevented further violence. Also glad you were safely at home for this.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in 8th the Washington Redskins one the Super Bowl. (At the time they were our only local team for all of Baltimore and DC). My sister and BIL took my brother and I to the rally and parade in DC and it was so much fun. Just joyous. That was such a long time ago now, though.
And a few years back when our Baltimore Ravens were in the playoffs and trying to get to the Super Bowl and it was Ray Lewis’ last year the hospital where I work held a big playoff rally in our lobby. They had special T-shirt’s made that they gave out, and the local TV stations were there, and it was pretty insane, but also so incredibly cool. My husband even met me downtown on his lunch break to come to it.
That's terrible! I am just hearing about it now, I am glad that you are ok. I've never been to a big parade like that and I don't think I ever will. I grew up in Manhattan were we always had big parade. Pre-9/11 my other would never let me go, post-9/11 i never thought about asking again.
ReplyDeleteMy husband watched the Series, and I was thinking of you (I had no preference except for you!). I hadn't heard about the gunman. This just happens too much :-(
ReplyDeleteI have celebrated with the Denver Broncos over the years. The younger I was, the more I'd venture out. Now I pretty much just watch the celebrating on TV. #old