HOMETOWN HEROES!
New York City’s essential workers honored at
extravagant ticker-tape parade in Manhattan
BY DEAN MOSES
A city showed its thanks to the
heroes of the last 17 months through
an extravagant parade Wednesday,
July 7.
During the height of the COVID-19
pandemic the term essential worker
was coined and healthcare professionals,
supermarket employees,
educational staff, firefighters, and
more were elevated to hero status.
Now, as the Big Apple emerges from
the ashes of the worst global health
crisis in over a century, a who’s who
of elected officials lined up to demonstrate
their gratitude in front of
a legion of television cameras and a
roaring crowd of supporters.
The parade, dubbed “Hometown
Heroes,” was the largest ticker-tape
parade to grace New York City in
COURIER L 16 IFE, JULY 9-15, 2021
history and the first procession in
almost two years. Kicking off at 11
am in Battery Park, the event was
helmed by Mayor Bill de Blasio, First
Lady Chirlane Irene McCray, and
the parade’s grand marshal Sandra
Lindsay, a Queens nurse who was
the first person in the United States
to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
While several politicians including
Senate Majority Leader Charles
Schumer, Congresswoman Carolyn
Maloney, and Democrat primary
mayoral candidate Eric Adams extended
their arms in gratitude, the
eyes of the city were firmly set on
the cavalcade of essential workers
who kept the city going through the
harshest of times.
Plumes of confetti bursted
through the air from a convoy of
(Top) Confetti burst through the air during the Hometown Heroes parade. (Above) A boy
calls his nurse mother a hero. (Right) Scenes from the parade. Photos by Dean Moses