PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia officials are expecting a huge turnout of fans in the city Friday for a parade honoring the Philadelphia Eagles after their Super Bowl win.
The team plans to descend the Rocky steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art at around 2 p.m. for a 75-minute ceremony, city leaders said at a Tuesday press conference.
A replay of the team’s 40-22 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday will be shown on large screens nearby. The parade itself will start at 11 a.m. near the South Philadelphia stadium, proceed up Broad Street to City Hall and then west on to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to the art museum.
Mayor Cherelle Parker, noting the harrowing plane crash in Northeast Philadelphia that killed seven people last month, said both the team and the city have proved resilient. The Eagles, she noted, started off the season 2-2.
“Our Philadelphia Eagles, they were also gritty. They lifted up our spirits at a time when we really needed lifting,” Parker said.
Organizers urged people who turn out Friday to celebrate safely, a year after gunfire marred the championship parade in Kansas City for the Chiefs. Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said he was mostly pleased with the tone of celebrations in downtown Philadelphia after the game on Sunday.
Some schools in the region, including city public schools, will close on Friday. City courts will also be closed.
Eagles President Don Smolenski thanked the many diehard fans who “bleed green” for the team. They often take over opponents’ stadiums and turn the contests into home crowd affairs, much as they did at the Superdome in New Orleans, he said.
“We’ve gone from Brazil to Bourbon Street to Broad Street to the Ben Franklin Parkway,” he said Tuesday. “It doesn’t get much better than this.”
