BOSTON — Thousands of New England Patriots fans, most wearing several layers of clothing, hit the streets of Boston on Wednesday to celebrate their team’s Super Bowl victory with a downtown parade after two massive snowstorms.
Whitney Gikis, a 27-year-old house painter from Westminster, Massachusetts, said there was no way the bone-chilling weather would keep him from celebrating the team’s fourth Super Bowl victory.
“I love the Patriots. I’m ready for this. I was born ready for this,” Gikis said.
Early morning temperatures dropped to 6 degrees Fahrenheit. Fans packed into subway cars and commuter trains and arrived in the city in high spirits, though a little less mobile for their layers of warm clothing and Patriots jerseys.
The parade, held in World War Two-era amphibious trucks known as “duck boats,” will go on amid snow drifts that are piled 6 feet high in places after Boston received more than 40 inches of accumulation over the past week.
Mayor Marty Walsh had initially scheduled the parade for Tuesday, but he pushed it back until 11 a.m. Wednesday due to a heavy Monday snowfall.
He warned parade-goers not to climb on snowbanks to try to get a closer look at players including star quarterback Tom Brady and Malcolm Butler, the rookie whose interception in the final seconds sealed Sunday’s victory over the Seattle Seahawks.
The parade begins at Prudential Tower and ends at City Hall, but it will not feature the traditional City Hall rally afterward, because of cold temperatures and snow.
Debbie Provencher, 52, and her family left their home in Merrimack, New Hampshire, at 6 a.m. to get a good spot near the start of the parade. She said she was waiting to see “our hero Butler” whose late-game heroics has made him a household name in New England.
Thanks partly to Butler, who was used sparingly during the regular season, Patriots fans are calling Sunday night’s game one of the best Super Bowls in history. The team clinched its fourth National Football League championship after a heart-stopping sequence of plays in the game’s final minutes.
“I’m excited to see them and thank them,” Provencher said.