Everyday New Yorkers, celebrities and politicians alike poured into the city’s Canyon of Heroes Thursday for the New York Knicks‘ championship parade celebrating the beloved basketball team’s first NBA Finals win in 53 years.
The New York City Police Department reported that all the viewing areas for the city’s Canyon of Heroes parade route, which runs along Broadway in lower Manhattan from Battery Park to New York City Hall, had already filled up three hours before the parade’s Thursday start. New Yorkers have nonetheless found other ways to participate in the historic celebration, including by lining up along the Brooklyn Bridge’s pedestrian walkway.
The parade, a 72-piece lineup of floats, other vehicles and bands, is shaping up to be one of the largest and most star-studded in New York City’s storied history. The players of this year’s Knicks championship team, including Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges were all in attendance, as were New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.
A number of famous Knicks fans were seen riding some of the parade’s floats Thursday as well, including Spike Lee, Timothée Chalamet, Ben Stiller, rapper Fat Joe, Matthew Modine and “Law & Order: SVU” star Mariska Hargitay. Stiller is in the midst of making a Knicks documentary with HBO and A24.
Past Knicks players like Patrick Ewing and Bernard King were also in attendance at the parade.
“New York: We’ve got a big crowd here celebrating our Knicks,” Mamdani wrote Thursday morning on X. “Bus service is suspended in much of lower Manhattan. Subways are skipping some stations in the area.”
As part of the parade’s preparations, lower Manhattan was declared a car-free zone Thursday, with every street south of Canal Street in Manhattan being shut down to vehicular traffic starting at 7 a.m. ET. New Yorkers were advised that traffic coming off the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan would only be able to travel northbound on the FDR parkway.
The parade is scheduled to end at City Hall with the members of this year’s Knicks team receiving keys to the city. “Empire State of Mind” singer Alicia Keys, meanwhile, has signed on to perform.
“There will be performances, there will be New Yorkers, there will be the team and there will be history,” Mamdani teased Monday.
