Celtics parade attracts hundreds of thousands to the streets in celebration of Celtics’ 18th NBA championship
Courtesy of Grace Gardner
Courtesy of Grace Gardner
Courtesy of Grace Gardner
Courtesy of Grace Gardner
Courtesy of Grace Gardner
On Friday, June 21, hundreds of thousands of Bostonians—with some reports placing the estimate of attendees to over a million—took to the streets geared in bright green to celebrate the Boston-based basketball team Boston Celtics’ 18th championship title, their first championship win in 16 years.
The festival celebrating the team’s historic win came following their last 2024 NBA Finals match on June 17 against Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks, with the Celtics finally earning the title on Game 5 (88–106) at home court. The win pushed the Celtics to take up the mantle of most NBA championships of any franchise and was hailed as a landmark for the city, which had not seen a major sports team championship win in several years. This summer’s parade was the first since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 90-minute procession—a rolling motorcade of duck boats, which has become a city tradition since they were first rolled out for football team New England Patriots’ Super Bowl win in 2002—began at 11 a.m. at TD Garden and ended at Hynes Convention Center, surrounded by a sea of fans.
“This was a big deal because the Celtics won the championship exactly 16 years from when they last won,” Grace Gardner ’25, who attended the parade, said. “There was a narrative [of] the current roster not being able to win in the playoffs.”
The Celtics have a special relationship with the Institute through shooting guard/small forward Jaylen Brown, who is an MIT Media Lab Director’s Fellow. Brown was named MVP this season, his first award of the kind. Through his efforts alongside the Institute, Brown has made significant off-court contributions in taking on social advocacy initiatives; notably, he co-founded the Bridge Program in collaboration with the Lab, which serves as a mentoring program and leadership initiative for Black and Brown high school-aged youth.
“I think that championship parades are a really awesome way for MIT students to get a feel for the city. The first parade I went to, I was like, ‘Wow! I’m really an MIT student, and I really live in Massachusetts,’” Gardner said. “Boston sports can add to the MIT experience by helping students feel like they are part of a broader community beyond MIT.”
Brown, as well as the other four starters for the Celtics, is under contract for the next season. Many have already hedged their bets on a potential 2025 championship for the Celtics.