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BOSTON (WHDH) - Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced Tuesday that a rolling rally parade will be held on Friday to celebrate the newly-crowned NBA Champion Celtics.
The parade will being at 11 a.m. in front of TD Garden on Causeway Street, passing by City Hall Plaza and the Boston Common before ending on Boylston Street by the Hynes Convention Center.
Players will celebrate on Boston’s famous Duck Boats.
The Celtics claimed their 18th championship with a decisive 106-88 win over the Dallas Mavericks.
Jayson Tatum led the team in the win with 31 points. Jaylen Brown followed with 21 points and was honored as the NBA Finals MVP.
The Celtics closed out this year’s finals 16 years to the day after their last championship in 2008 and brought a major professional sports championship back to Boston for the first time since the Patriots won the Super Bowl in 2019.
As fans flooded the streets, congratulations poured in from across the country. Many fans also flocked to area stores to stock up on championship merchandise.
Officials are believed to have picked Friday as the date for the Celtics parade due to hot weather currently blanketing the region.
High temperatures on Tuesday were expected to reach 94 degrees in some spots. Thursday’s high temperature could climb to 97 degrees. Across the region, heat index temperatures could push past 100 degrees.
Though Friday will be somewhat cooler, temperatures could still push into the 90s, according to forecasts.
“The whole event should probably take about 90 minutes from the time they start rolling ’til the time they end and as it goes by fixed points, folks can go back about their business, go back inside, go in a store and cool off,” said Boston EMS Chief James Hooley.
With the weather in mind, one local emergency room doctor urged potential parade goers to be careful.
“I would be very cautious about spending a long time outdoors in a sunny environment during really hot weather in a crowd,” said Dr. Caleb Dresser from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
“There have been similar events in other countries around the world where people have died of heat stroke during political rallies and other big outdoor events,” he continued. “And so, I would be very careful about spending that amount of time in a crowded environment without access to shade and hydration. That could be quite dangerous.”
Wu declared a heat emergency ahead of the expected warm weather and detailed various measures, including cooling centers, to help Boston residents stay safe.
The city outlined other safety tips on its website.
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