Ticker-tape parade

A ticker-tape parade is a parade event, held in a downtown urban setting, allowing the jettison of large amounts of shredded paper products from nearby buildings onto the parade route, creating a triumphal effect by the snowstorm like flurry.

The term originated in New York City and is still most closely associated with it. The term ticker-tape refered originally to the use of the paper output of ticker tape machines, which were remotely-driven devices used in brokerages to provide updated Stock Market quotes. Nowadays, the paper product are largely waste office paper that has been cut using conventional shredders.

In New York City, ticker-tape parades are not annual events but are reserved for special occassions. The first such parade was in October 1886 and was a spontaneous event following the dedication of the Statue of Liberty. Soon afterwards, city officials realized the utility of such events and began to hold them on triumphal occassions, at first only for extraordinary events, such as the return of Theodore Roosevelt from his safari in Africa.

Up through the 1950s, they were commonly given to any visiting head of state, but the 1960s, following the assasination of John F. Kennedy, they became increasingly rare are generally reserved now for space exploration triumphs, military honors and sports championships. The section of lower Broadway through the Financial District that serves as the parade route for these events is colloquially called the Canyon of Heroes.

See: List of ticker-tape parades in New York City