And they’re off!
The Red Sox victory parade has started through the streets of Boston, team members loaded on colorful duck boats, as thousands of fans cheered them on.
Boston is celebrating the Red Sox’ ninth World Series championship, and at Fenway Park Wednesday morning, team members celebrated the historic win with fans ahead of today’s duck boat parade through city streets. At the front of the parade was a duck boat carrying the members of the Dropkick Murphys.
During a ceremony earlier in the day at the ballpark, fans went wild when Manager Alex Cora appeared on stage during a pregame celebration.
“It was an amazing run, it was an amazing year,” he said.
Cora praised the work of his team over the past season, and thanked the team’s owners for hiring him as the Red Sox manager last year.
“They gave me a shot. They trusted me,” Cora said.
Steve Pearce, the team’s MVP for the World Series, grew up a Red Sox fan. He was asked how he would have reacted if he were told as a kid he’d one day ride a duck boat as part of a Red Sox championship.
“He would have believed it. This is a dream come true for me,” Pearce said.
Jackie Bradley, Jr. said of the upcoming parade: “It’s going to be a lot of fun... we can’t wait to see everybody,” Bradley said.
Nearby, crew members of the team placed World Series championship trophies on a table in the stands. Governor Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh also rocked Red Sox sweatshirts during the pre-parade celebration.
Along Boylston Street, Boston police said in a Twitter post there was lots of enthusiam from fans.
“Men and women of the #BPD are excited about keeping everybody safe today at the @RedSox #WorldSeries Victory Parade!!! Let’s behave like champions today!!!” police wrote.
Local officials -- including Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh -- asked visitors to take public transportation. And it looks like fans took the advice: the MBTA reports many of its parking lots are full, including Riverside, Wonderland, Alefwife, and Quincy Adams.
Earlier in the morning, some fans already had their favorite spots staked out hours before the parade started.
Irene Kelley, of Melrose, snagged a front row seat just outside Park Street Station at 7:41 a.m. She packed a lunch, a book, and brought a small chair to sit in, right against the barrier that forms the parade route.
“I wasn’t sure what the front row seat time was... so I figured it was good to come early, even if it was too early,” she said.
Kelley said the parade and World Series win is important to her because her father, a big Sox fan, passed away last year.
“I give him... credit for this,” she said. “He was born in 1919 and followed them all of these years.”
Sande Collins, of Bolton, is an innovator. In 2013, when she watch the Red Sox roll down Boylston Street on Duck Boats, she used a cement flower bed - no flowers in it, don’t worry - as a bench and later to stand on to watch the parade.
This time around, she is doing it again.
“We had a great viewing last time,” she said, waiting for her husband, daughter, and her daughter’s friends to arrive and join her.
On Tremont Street, Brooke Jacobs and her brother, Michael, traveled from Bellingham to watch the parade. They stood by the barrier, sipped Dunkin’ coffee, and tried to stay warm before the rally. The siblings both skipped work for the day, with the blessing of their respective employers.
Brooke, who teaches in Newton, told her boss the school had better find a substitute -- because she wasn’t going to miss the parade.
“I was like, ‘I’m not coming in,’” she said, laughing, while holding a “Damage Done” sign.
They’ve attended all of the championship rallies for Boston sports teams since 2011 together, and always return to this same spot along the route.
“[The] first time we went we met a couple people hanging out here, so why not come back,” said Michael.
Alex Staples, 22, got up at the crack of dawn and drove into Boston from Maine to meet her friend, Nicole Schena, 22, of Andover. The pair arrived at 6:30 a.m.
It’s their first championship parade, but the pair were lucky enough to attend Game 2 of the World Series at Fenway Park.
On Wednesday morning, they found a nook along Boylston Street -- a small brick island at a normally busy intersection - where they set up camp.
“We got ourselves a little corner,” Staples said.
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