Denver businesses, city workers & fans get ready for Thursday's big Nuggets victory parade
It won't be the first time, but it may be the longest wait. The Denver Nuggets victory in the NBA Finals will be celebrated Thursday with a crowd in the mood to cheer a victory 47 years in the making.
"It's exciting. You know it's a big parade coming. You have what, probably a million people are going to be down here. People of all nationalities, all colors, political parties. For just one day every comes together," said street vendor Eugene Gardner. "Forget about what side of town you live on. Forget about high class, low class, everybody is just going to be here as a family supporting the Nuggets."
Gardner was already selling championship pennants in front of Union Station Tuesday.
"I picked them up before the game was over," he explained. "I rolled the dice."
The city is at work planning. The fire department is deciding on how many Denver fire trucks and engines will be at the event and putting out the call to departments around the Denver metro area to send their own equipment.
"With an event of this size and magnitude, you have to start planning a little early," said Chelsea Warren, a Denver employee who is helping to plan the event. "We are lucky here that we've won multiple championships across multiple teams, so we kind of have a road map on we want to do this."
That includes last year's celebration for the Colorado Avalanche who won hockey's Stanley Cup and the Denver Broncos Super Bowl victories.
"I do think we might have potentially more people than last year, but it's hard to know," said Warren.
"They said we didn't deserve it," said fan Nikolus Garza. "No. We worked hard for this. We got the two time MVP. We got Jamal Murray coming back. We have a great story."
He plans to take the kids to the parade and rally.
"We'll have the kids in pigtails and stuff. We'll do all that."
Fans in past parades have stood 7 and 8 deep.
At the Amante Coffee on 17th, they know it might get pretty busy.
"We love it yeah," said barista Emile Cessna. "Usually the line will snake around."
It's fun and hard work. Even during National Western Stock Show Parades they aren't able to see much of the action through their big windows.
"During the stock show parade we can see the tops of the horses' heads."
Warren had a series of recommendations for people hoping to attend. First of all, street closures will begin Wednesday night. More will be put into place Thursday morning. With the rally starting at 9 a.m. and the parade at 10 a.m., she suggests people get downtown early and think about alternate forms of transportation like RTD, because hundreds of thousands of people flowing into a downtown with closed streets will make things difficult for drivers. Bring water and clothing that's appropriate for the weather.
"Weather permitting, we're expecting a lot of people."
Nik Garza is planning on being among the crowd. He loves his team and wouldn't miss it.
"It's going to be nuts down here for the first NBA championship," said Garza.
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