LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Hundreds of thousands of fans waited hours in the sun to get a good spot along the Vegas Golden Knights parade route.
“Lightweight shirt. Sunscreen and lots of drinks,” said Donny Moss of his preparedness while joined by his wife, two children, and grandchild. “It’s going to be hot out here, but we wouldn’t miss the parade for anything.”
It was shoulder-to-shoulder along the parade route as a large group gathered near the Bellagio Hotel fountains. The parade began on Flamingo with double-decker buses pulling up full of players and staff.
“We needed something like this here in Las Vegas,” Amanda Ford of Las Vegas said. “I’ve been here for a long time, and we needed a team to come here and have something to go do and lift our spirits.”
Some fans could still recall what it was like during the Golden Knights’ first season in the wake of the 1 October shooting, when the Knights went to the Stanley Cup final and lost to the Washington Capitals.
“It gave the city something to rally around after the shooting happened, so I think it’s a great thing,” said Knights fan Cyndi Moss. “It took us six years, but we finally brought the cup home.”
Fans are riding the high off of the 2023 Stanley Cup win against the Florida Panthers, a lopsided victory that secured Vegas’s championship status.
“My husband is a truck driver, we couldn’t watch the game together,” said Knights fan Jennifer Leonard of Pahrump. “We Facetimed the entire time, so it really means a lot to us.”