Celtics fans won’t end this celebration anytime soon – 16 years in the making.
As green and white confetti fell along the 2-mile route from TD Garden to Hynes Convention Center, more than a million fans from near and far packed the streets, showing pride for a team that means so much to them and the city as a whole.
“This is like a life dream,” said Nicholas Day, a Pennsylvania resident who has stood by the Celtics long after he left New England. He showed up to Causeway Street with his young song Landon, well before the Duck Boats started rolling.
Thousands of other Celtics fanatics piled outside the Garden early Friday morning, some hours before daybreak.
Superfan Brian Babz showed up at 3 a.m., soaking in the atmosphere while reflecting on the Celtics’ dominance this season. Babz has become a fixture on Causeway Street by co-hosting watch parties at Big Night Live with his friend KJ Green, who got the nod to ride with fan favorite Kristaps Porzingis.
“My adrenaline has been going strong since Monday night,” Babz said, “and now after today, it’s going to last another week. The city is built on sports and championships. This is truly the start of the dynasty.”
“Let’s Go Celtics” chants wrung out on Causeway Street in the early hours, while Hurricanes at the Garden, the Harp, Banners, and other nearby bars, opened early for fans to get in their morning eats and drinks.
Merchandise tents sold “Kyrie (Irving) sucks” and “Luka (Doncic) sucks” shirts – a sign that the Finals win over Dallas is still freshly on the minds of all fans, just days after the Celtics clinched Banner 18 on the hallowed parquet.
And it didn’t take long for the classic Boston celebrations to be seen, with a fan climbing on top of a Canal Street traffic signal minutes before 9 a.m.
City resident Dennis Daniel, also stationed outside of the Garden, said he’s been a Celtics fan “forever” before rattling off the legendary names of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parrish.
Banner 18 is sweet, Daniel said, after the Celtics got within striking distance of accomplishing the ultimate goal the past two years, before falling short to the Golden State in the 2022 Finals and Miami in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals
“We lost to people that we shouldn’t have,” Daniel said, “but it was growth, it was learning, to keep a legacy alive.”
Friday’s parade marked Boston’s first since after the pandemic, with the last coming in February 2019 when the Patriots won their sixth Super Bowl. Boston Duck Tours has been part of all 13 rolling rallies in the past 24 years.
The Celtics – the entire organization; players, coaches, trainers, front office, dancers, Lucky the Leprechaun – passed the Garden, City Hall Plaza, and the Boston Common, before ending on Boylston Street by the Hynes Convention Center.
Fans piled rows deep along the entire route. Those gathered along the barrier in front of the Hynes got drenched in a shower beer by Celtics legend Paul Pierce, in a boat with members of the 2008 championship team.
Rhode Island resident Jeff Norman found a spot in the shade on Tremont Street next to the Boston Common. With his 10-year-old son Lucas out of school for the summer, the father decided to take advantage and soak in the glory.
“It was truly a team based on teamwork, and everybody participated, everybody contributed,” Norman said. “It’s an awesome feeling to have (the title) back in Boston.”
His son, never seeing the Celtics raise the Larry O’Brien trophy before, added, “I needed them to win.”
The Normans traveled into the bustling city on the commuter rail – a common way in for thousands. The Mansfield Police Department posted on Facebook just after 9 a.m. that several morning trains were 100% full, urging fans to seek alternate transportation.
Though temperatures broke after the heatwave, fans filled Dunkins along the route to the brim, seeking iced coffees and other drinks to stay cool in the day’s sun.
Brody Ernst and his friend Kaleb Cagnon, both 20 years old from South Portland, Maine, were just toddlers when the Celtics won in 2008, and Friday’s championship parade marked the first in their lives.
“They can’t say anything,” Ernst said of critics. “If you’re going to say this ring is a Mickey Mouse ring or whatever it is, you’re silly.”
Connor Eifert and his father Jim Eifert, walking through the Common after the parade, said they’re proud lifelong Celtics fans even though they live in Pennsylvania, not too far from Philadephia.
They called out Joel Embiid, a star on the 76ers who last week said he hates Boston and that the “whole East was kinda hurt this year, myself included,”
“He hates us because we are winners,” Jim Eifert said.
Worcester resident Stephanie Rodriguez held her 1-year-old son Nick in front of Hynes, minutes before the Duck Boats made their way past. Her husband Justin highlighted how this year’s Celtics played as a team.
“It’s great for him to have role models to look up to, especially if he gets into sports,” Stephanie Rodriguez said of raising her son as a Celtics fan. “He’ll probably look back at this team and be proud.”
After the duck boats reached the route’s end, city employees used leafblowers to sweep up the confetti-ridden streets, with thousands of fans continuing the party and looking forward to the years ahead.
