Thousands of Red Sox fans from all over New England flooded the streets of Boston this Halloween to celebrate the baseball team’s recent championship victory for the World Series parade.
The Red Sox had a franchise record 108 wins in the regular season, placing them first in the American League East and carrying them to the World Series where they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games.
The parade started at Fenway Park, as The Dropkick Murphys performed “Shipping Up to Boston” on a large parade float, and continued through town to Faneuil Hall. Meanwhile, fans lined the streets wearing brightly colored Red Sox jerseys and baseball caps while cheering for their favorite team.
David Ortiz rode the second float, which immediately instigated a “Big Papi” chant from the viewers.
Following were other prominent players including Steve Pearce who was voted Most Valuable Player of the World Series. Along the streets of the parade, “Joe Kelly Fight Club” and “MVPearce” shirts were being sold.
The city was a mix of Red Sox jerseys and Halloween costumes. Shops were decked out in Halloween decorations as employees dressed up as their favorite characters.
“I thought it was super cool. It was my first championship parade even though I’m a huge sports fan, so I was really happy to make it,” said Northeastern sophomore Erin Savage. “Something that stood out to me was that complete strangers would act like they knew each other their entire lives.”
High school senior Lily Fullford from Newbury, Massachusetts was excited to see Mookie Betts, JD Martinez and Pedro Martinez. “It was very fun and a great experience, but it was also definitely very rowdy,” said Fullford. “There were people throwing glass bottles and food and that was just unnecessary.”
At one point, someone was arrested for throwing a beer can and breaking off some of the flags of the World Series Trophy. Six arrests were made.
Toward the end of the parade, the crowd of Sox fans began singing “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond, the unofficial anthem of the team.
University of Massachusetts 2014 alum Alyssa Boyson was most excited about the live music. “My favorites were the first trucks that went by with Dropkick Murphys and confetti.”
In preparation for the parade, the city shut down certain streets and ran additional trains on the T. Afterward, people flooded to North Station. The lines for the commuter rail sprawled out of the building and down the street.
Cassandra McGrath can be reached at [email protected].
