New York City has a rich tradition of celebrating heroes and welcoming dignitaries by showering them with ticker tape during a parade up the Canyon of Heroes in Lower Manhattan. When did this unique custom begin, and how has it evolved? How many ticker tape parades have there been? Who decides to give a parade, and how are the recipients chosen? Has anybody turned down the honor? And what is ticker tape anyway?

This book answers these questions - and more. Has anybody received more than one ticker tape parade? Which parade was the biggest? Why was there no parade for the New York Jets after they won the Super Bowl in 1969? How have the parades and honorees changed over time, and what does that say about how our culture and city have changed?

Ticker tape parades have been held for heroes as famous as General Douglas MacArthur and transatlantic aviator Charles Lindbergh, for foreign dignitaries visiting New York like Nelson Mandela and Queen Elizabeth II, and for victorious sports teams and Olympic heroes. There have been parades for people whose fame has faded over time, like Gertrude Ederle or Althea Gibson, and for some people who were relatively unknown in their own time, such as the Marquis de Dampierre. This book remembers them all, breathing new life into New York’s most spectacular events… Ticker Tape Parades!