When it comes to extravaganzas, no one does it better than San Francisco, especially when celebrating the amazing World Series success of our San Francisco Giants! And last Wednesday’s massive downtown victory parade took on an even more special allure, being that it was being held Halloween. A Giants victory parade and Halloween made for strange bedfellows, and as you can see, a lot of people really got creative in combining the two events.
An estimated million people crammed the parade route along Market Street up to the Civic Center for even more Giants festivities in front of City Hall. That’s a lot of people to pack into a relatively small city, but the good news is that on this day at least, San Francisco was indeed the happiest place on earth. Everyone was smiling, everyone was joyful, everyone was radiating happiness. It reminded me of a line from the Grateful Dead tune Scarlet Begonias: ‘Strangers stopping strangers, just to shake their hands.’ The sense of sheer joy and gratitude that this city felt for our Giants was amazing, and you couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear at the sight of so many happy, crazy people. Toss in some really hilarious and clever Halloween costumes, and a lot of confetti, and the day’s keyword was FUN!
To get downtown I took the subway, reminding me of yet another song lyric, this time from the The Police and Synchronicity 2: ‘Packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes …’ But the short ride was boisterous and fun, and it was really cool to see so many parents with their kids, all decked in Giants orange and black, enjoying this major event as a family. Finally, downtown, and as I rode the escalator from the Montgomery Street subway station up to Market Street the sense of excitement was gigantic … I couldn’t wait to hit the streets and join the action. I started snapping even as I rode the escalator up and I didn’t stop for four hours, capturing everything I could. As a good friend of mine said, these events are so rare, and you gotta appreciate every second, because it might not ever happen again (and he should know, because he lives in Philadelphia!). In that way, then, a Giant’s World Series Victory parade is like a metaphor for life, but that’s a deeper discussion for another time.
And I did try to capture every second, because who knows when it will happen again. I hope this photo essay gives you an idea of the grand scale of the event, the enormous throngs of people and the spectacle of pageantry! It was indeed a day that will go down in San Francisco history. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the 2012 San Francisco Giants World Series Victory parade!
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- Packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes.
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- And So It Begins
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- So Many Happy Fans!
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- Superheroes Unite!
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- Gal Pals #1
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- The World Series Trophy Goes For A Stroll
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- On Market Street
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- Confetti Guy
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- Just Another Day In San Francisco
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- Confetti Walk
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- The Parade Begins!
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- Face Painter #1
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- Irony
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- The Ferry Building Says It All
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- Sign Guy #1
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- You Never Never Know Who You’ll Meet At A Parade #1
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- Here Comes The Confetti!!!
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- Mysterious Orange Guy Makes His Point
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- Champions!
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- In Which I Get A Faceful Of Confetti!
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- Best Seat In The House
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- Four Fans
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- No Excuse Needed
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- Sometimes You Don’t Even Ask Why #1
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- Much Fierceness On Market Street
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- Montgomery Street Subway Station
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- Read All About It
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- Balancing Act
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- Embaracadero Bike Taxi
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- You Never Never Know Who You’ll Meet At A Parade #2
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- Mysterious Orange Guy Is Ready For His Close Up
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- There’s A Parade In There Somewhere
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- How To View A Parade
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- Sign Guy #2
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- Bus Stop Gal
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- Cape Guy
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- Wave That Flag! Wave It Wide and High!
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- Let’s Make Confetti Angels
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- Sometimes You Don’t Even Ask Why #2
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- Kids Love Confetti (And Chocolate)
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- Dangling Feet
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- Kids #1
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- Civic Center Debbie Downer
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- On Market Street, 2 PM
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- Just Not A San Francisco Parade Without A Chinese Dragon
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- You Never Never Know Who You’ll Meet At A Parade #3
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- Just Some Of The Million
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- Two Views Of City Hall
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- Family Fun
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- Face Painter #2
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- Vantage Point
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- Ingenious Ways Of Seeing The Parade
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- “‘Strangers stopping strangers, just to shake their hands.”
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- Ferry Fans
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- Civic Center Panorama
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- A Rare Quiet Spot In Embarcadero Center
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- Why So Serious?
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- It’s Raining Confetti!
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- Kids #2
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- None Shall Pass!
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- Lost His Head For The Giants
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- Sometimes You Don’t Even Ask Why #3
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- What Do You Expect? It’s Halloween!
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- Giants Fans Get In The Spirit
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- Gal Pals #2
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- Nice Socks (Amongst Other Things)
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- Time For A Rest
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- Tattoo Guy
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- Mysterious Orange Guy Climbs A Tree
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- Gal Pals #3
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- Timmy!
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- What The Sign Said
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- Why Didn’t You Buy The Big Hat?
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- Sign Guy #1
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- From Every Vantage Point
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- Market Street Wall Mural
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- Say Cheese
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- Matching Hair
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- Trojan Mask
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- Mysterious Orange Guy Takes A Picture
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- Fans
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- Hulk Fist!
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- Flag Guy
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- City Hall Decked Out In Giants Orange
Stephen Kelly Creative 
Steve, you did such an outstanding job with your colorful commentary and wonderful photos of this spectacular event. It brought back memories when the Phillies won the Wolrld Series..
Thanks Mom!
Steve, you did an outstanding job with your colorful commentary and excellent photos of the Giants World Series Parade. It was as exciting as the time the Phillies won their World Series. Keep up the good work!!!
Love, Mom
Thanks again, Mom!
Great job! Love the fun photos : )
It’s raining confetti!!
thanks judy … i’m still picking confetti out of my hair!
Dear Stephen, What can I say? You have said it all! (Has it ever occurred to you to offer yourself to a real losing team, like the Chicago Cubs or etc? With so much of your good publicity, I bet any team could win, almost!). I really enjoyed your photo essay and seeing more of the lively folk of San Francisco.
Hi Victoria … hmmm, then maybe I should move back to Philadelphia. The sports teams in my old hometown are mighty shabby these days!
You took me there and made me apart of the celebration. Your photos are wonderful. Thank you for sharing.
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
Thank you so much for that!!! My goal with these photo essays is to really immerse the viewer in the experience. I’m so happy you felt you were there!!!
Fun, awesome images!
Thanks SKEdazzles … it was quite a time!
Hey! The cookie monster was there!!!! 😀 😀 😀
LOL! Yep, and a LOT of his friends. I like that Cookie Monster is wearing a backpack. What do you think he has in there … hmmmm?
Come oooooooooon, cookies of course!!!!!!!!!!!! 😀 😀 😀 😀
Fab shots Stephen! That must have been one long and fun party 🙂
Thanks Madhu! The party started Sunday evening after they won the World Series, and lasted until Wednesday’s parade. It was a really fun and exciting (and well-behaved) time!
Hi Stephen!!!! You and the city had a wonderful day!!!! Love all of them…Specially the series ” Better not to ask why” and “You never know who you will meet…” And the “Confetti rain..” and….Well…It was a good day!!!
HI Ilargia … hehe … glad you liked it! and, yes, it was a very good day!
Wonderful photos. I have been a baseball fan for many years and I enjoyed watching the World Series on TV. I hope no cars were set on fire during the celebration. I don’t know why that seems to happen 🙂
Hey Northern Narratives! Actually, the parade was amazingly well-behaved given the sheer number of people; police reported very few incidents. Some idiots set fire to a city bus the night the Giants won the series.
Excellent story: fans took cell phone pics and video of the guys vandalizing the bus, and they went viral on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Sure enough, the cops nailed one of the guy a few days ago, identifying him through social media. The two other guys are still at large, but that’s a matter of time because you can see their faces clearly in the pics. The bus they destroyed was worth $700,000, and it recently had $300,000 of upgrading service. The city wants their money for their bus, and they’re going to throw the book at this guy.
Happy post … hysterical happy photos … and congratulations to the Giants and to SF! Orange Guy .. my favorite.
Hi Viveka … yep, the overriding theme of the day was happiness. Being around that many happy people is really uplifting! hehe, I like orange guy too.
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