Chicago officials say the crowd estimate for the Chicago Cubs championship celebration is about 5 million people.
The number comes Friday afternoon a spokeswoman for the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications. It includes everyone who lined the parade route and the crowd who attended a rally at Grant Park.
Among those in the crowd at Grant Park were four generations of Laura Lewis’ family, including her 70-year-old grandma, her mother and her son. All three women told stories of going to games as young girls and continuing the tradition with their families.
The family gathered pieces of the red and blue parade confetti to send to Lewis’ sister in Japan. Grandma Mary Blevins called the experience “priceless.”
Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon carried the World Series championship trophy onto the stage at a rally honoring the team in Grant Park.
Maddon started by talking to the fans, saying “You guys are the best. Congratulations!”
Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein also spoke, telling fans that they “are really what carried our guys through October.” He said the players “felt how badly” the Chicago Cubs fans wanted a World Series win.
Cubs owner Tom Ricketts told the crowd that the players on the World Series team are “going to be Chicago baseball legends.”
Ricketts said he was used to fans coming up to him, asking when the Cubs were going to win a World Series. He said, “For the thousands of people who have said that to me, ‘There you go.'”