Are Ticker Tape Parades a Thing of the Past?

Today the national U.S. Women’s soccer team is being celebrated with a ticker tape parade in downtown Manhattan for their World Cup win against the Netherlands this past Sunday.

The first ticker tape parade in New York took place on October 28, 1886, as a celebration of the new Statue of Liberty. The impromptu event ran between Battery park, at the southern-most tip of Manhattan where the Statue is visible, through the Financial district and up to City Hall. The route is now known as the Canyon of Heroes.

Originally, ticker tape was a paper strip where messages were recorded on a telegraphic tape machine. They were remotely driven devices used to provide updated stock market quotes. The used tape messages were in abundance in the Financial district and were thrown from windows in celebration of any given parade. Today, ticker tape is replaced with tons of recycled paper and confetti.

As the chart below illustrates, the heyday of ticker tape parades was in the 1950s, after World War II. In that decade, there were 71 parades, which welcomed foreign dignitaries, U.S. generals, veterans, and sports stars. The event has waned in recent years, with only three ticker tape parades in this decade, all celebrating sports wins for New York area teams or U.S. national teams. In the past decade, two out of the three ticker tape parades have been to celebrate the World Cup wins of the U.S. Women’s soccer team.