A ‘Champions Way’ sign during the New York Knicks ticker tape parade last month. The city Department of Transportation is raffling off a replica of the sign at Summer Streets events this year.
File Photo By Dean Moses
What if last month’s New York Knicks championship parade never had to end?
With the kickoff of its annual Summer Streets program this weekend, the city Department of Transportation is giving Knicks fanatics the chance to keep the celebratory vibes of the ticker tape parade down the Canyon of Heroes going in perpetuity.
To promote the events, the agency is raffling off replicas of the “Champions Way” signs that adorned street poles along the Knicks parade route. Summer Streets participants in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens will be entered into the contest automatically by taking a selfie in front of a Knicks sign mounted on a DOT truck, following @NYC_DOT on Instagram, and sharing the picture in a publicly available post.
The signs were just some of the many Knicks-themed decorations adorning the parade route celebrating the team’s first National Basketball Association championship win in 53 years — a 4-1 series win over the San Antonio Spurs. The festivities culminated in a ceremony on the City Hall steps where Mayor Zohran Mamdani gifted the team members the key to the city.
Summer Streets gives cyclists and pedestrians the chance to take over large stretches of major streets in all five boroughs by closing the thoroughfares off to car traffic across five Saturdays between this month and August.
The events take place along upwards of 20 miles of city roadways and drew over 500,000 participants last year.
“Summer Streets is a celebration of the season and how we can bring public space alive to benefit all New Yorkers,” DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn said in a statement.
“Summer Streets builds community through recreation and people-centered activities and programs, and I encourage all New Yorkers to join in the fun,” he added.
The program will kick off this weekend with Summer Streets along Queens’ Vernon Boulevard in Long Island City and Astoria and Staten Island’s Broadway in its West Brighton area. The changes will be in effect between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m in both boroughs on that day.
The Manhattan Summer Street — running along Park Avenue, 110th Street, and Broadway from the Brooklyn Bridge to Dyckman Street, 12 miles in all — will be in effect on the Saturdays of Aug. 1, 8, and 15. Cars will not be allowed on those streets between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. across the three dates.
Finally, the Brooklyn and Bronx Summer Streets will be held on Saturday, Aug. 22, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. The Brooklyn route will snake down Eastern Parkway from Grand Army Plaza to Buffalo Avenue, and the Bronx path will go up the Grand Concourse from East Tremont Avenue to Mosholu Parkway.