Fans celebrate the New York Knicks’ win against the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, on a street near Madison Square Garden, in New York City, U.S., June 14, 2026. REUTERS/Christian Monterrosa
When the party is over, the strongest will step in.
That party is the Knicks ticker-tape parade on Thursday morning. The strongest are the clean-up crews from the NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNY).
Once the championship-winning Knicks and their fans finish celebrating during the highly anticipated June 18 ticker-tape parade in the team’s honor along Broadway in Lower Manhattan, members of the DSNY, known as New York’s Strongest, will begin the massive cleanup that follows the festivities.
While it is difficult to pinpoint how long the cleanup effort will take right now, a DSNY spokesperson said crews will begin cleaning immediately as the parade wraps up and will continue until the last piece of confetti is cleared from the borough’s major north-south thoroughfare.
As the last parade contingent marches up Broadway’s Canyon of Heroes, DSNY workers, many of them in Knicks caps, will be right behind, clearing the streets and sidewalks of the celebratory, after-party debris.
DSNY plans to have 70 sanitation officers and 650 sanitation Workers – along with collection trucks, mechanical brooms and backpack blowers – on Broadway and surrounding streets to ensure they are clean and ready to reopen soon after the parade ends.
The department said it does not expect to use personnel who would otherwise be working in the outer boroughs; many DSNY members will work overtime on the effort.
“The 10,000 members of the department are proud of our New York Knicks and, after our celebration, we expect to be equally proud of our clean streets and public spaces downtown,” DSNY Commissioner Gregory Anderson said. “It may take some time, but please be assured that the Strongest are on it.”
Recent ticker-tape parades have created between approximately 21,000 to 59,000 pounds of confetti. The city’s most recent ticker-tape parade for the New York Liberty in Oct. 2025 created 40,460 pounds of paper.
More information on the parade is also available at nyc.gov/knicks.
amNewYork this week has been covering the Knicks ticker-tape parade, including information on street closures and transit service changes, as well as security and parking restrictions.
