San Francisco begins preparations for Monday's Warriors victory parade
SAN FRANCISCO - Market Street will be a sea of blue and yellow this Monday to celebrate the first Golden State Warriors' championship since moving across the Bay to San Francisco. If you're looking to yell "holy cannoli!" at Klay Thompson, here's what you need to know.
The team announced Thursday evening it would hold its victory parade on Monday, June 20, in San Francisco on Market Street. It will begin at 11:20 a.m. on the intersection of Market and Main streets, and will end at 8th street around 2 p.m. The parade was initially announced as having an endpoint at 6th Street on Thursday, but that was changed to 8th Street Friday.
More information on the parade has been posted on the Warriors' official website.
Parking in downtown San Francisco can be a challenge just about any day of the week. Add in a Warriors victory parade and that challenge becomes harder.
"You will not find parking, even though it is a holiday for some people, it's always difficult and it doesn't mean there won't be meter enforcement on the parking," said KPIX 5 Traffic Anchor Gianna Franco.
Even though Monday will be a holiday, Juneteenth, KPIX 5 Traffic Anchor Gianna Franco says do not be fooled into thinking traffic will be light.
"If you don't have to drive in, it's probably best that you don't," she said.
The parade route is short, just over a mile. It will be filled with not only screaming fans, but plenty of SFPD officers -- both in uniform and plainclothes -- looking to make sure the crowd stays safe.
"We're not going to be tolerating violence. We're not going to be tolerating vandalism. We want people to show San Francisco and the world what our team is all about," said SFPD Officer Robert Rueca.
SFPD is on high alert for threats.
"With any type of high profile event like this, we are scouring the social media, we are scouring the web for any possible threats and at this time the city is not seeing any information of credible threats," Rueca said.
If you want to join the party on Market Street, your safest transportation bet is BART. The transit agency says they are prepared for the biggest crowds since the pandemic began.
The route runs between the Powell and Civic Center stations, which has BART officials anticipating peak traffic from 9 a.m. until the parade starts, and from 1 to 3 p.m. as people exit the area.
"We have plenty of capacity. We have normal weekday service. We're going to make a point of running our longest 10 car trains throughout the day. In addition to that, we're going to stage a dozen event trains that we can deploy on an as needed basis as we gauge the size of the crowds, we can be responsive to that," says BART spokesperson Chris Filippi.
Fans are advised to pre-load a Clipper card onto their smartphones because there is a supply chain shortage of plastic for the cards.
"Really take a moment before you go to the parade to pre-load a clipper card on to your mobile phone. It's available via Google pay, it's available via Apple Pay. It's very simple, it'll save you time. You won't have to deal with a ticket vending machine at the station," Filippi said.
Unlike previous championship years, there have been no announced plans for a post-parade rally, so BART officials are asking fans not to crowd into Civic Center Station. Riders who arrive at Civic Center should exit at the east end of the station toward Seventh Street.
Masks are still required in all BART stations and on all trains.
Red and yellow line trains coming from the East Bay will not stop at the Montgomery Street station before the parade.
Riders of those lines are advised to get off at Embarcadero, Powell Street, or Civic Center stations.
Riders at Embarcadero station are being discouraged from using the entrance at Market and Main streets, because the area is being used as a staging ground for the parade.
Additional BART police officers and community service officers will be deployed at downtown stations for the event.
More information on the parade has been posted on the Warriors' official website. BART has also made a Warriors parade guide on its website with additional information on getting to the parade.
SFMTA is planning normal service, asking fans to use the subway and saying all Market Street bus routes will be moved to Mission Street for the duration of the parade. Those adjustments to bus routes begin Sunday afternoon.
