There have been no significant sightings of Taylor Swift, but downtown Kansas City has turned into a sea of red for Valentine’s Day as Chiefs fans prepare to celebrate their third Super Bowl title in five seasons with a parade.
“It never gets old,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas wrote on San Francisco 49ers.
Many fans are wondering if pop superstar Taylor Swift would join her boyfriend Travis Kelce for the parade and victory speeches. Swift has not commented. She has a show in Melbourne, Australia, on Friday evening, the first of three scheduled concerts during her Eras Tour.
Still, this unlikely possibility, combined with unseasonably warm temperatures in the 60s Fahrenheit (15-20 degrees Celsius), is expected to generate a crowd that city officials estimate could be more than 1 million people.
‘I missed last year. I said, ‘I’m not missing this year,’” said longtime fan Charles Smith Sr., who flew to the parade from his home in Sicklerville, New Jersey.
Known to friends as Kansas City Smitty, the 52-year-old first became a Chiefs fan when Christian Okoye played fullback for the team starting in the late 1980s.
“I have a history with this team,” he said, adding that he ran out of his house with a giant flag and shouted “Kansas City” as the Chiefs won in overtime.
The city and team each donated about $1 million for the event commemorating Kelce, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs becoming the first team since Tom Brady and the New England Patriots to defend their title two decades ago.
Some fans camped overnight and others began setting out sites before sunrise to discover the best viewing spots. Bailey McDermott, 17, and Gracie Gilby, 16, of Lebanon, Missouri, got up at 3 a.m. to make the three-hour drive to the parade. They had a party watching the game, and confetti poppers burst out as the Chiefs won.
“I actually panicked at the end,” said Gilby, who wore a sequined Chiefs jersey with Kelce’s No. 87 on it. McDermott also had a sequined jersey, with hers wearing Mahomes No. 15.
Many of the area’s largest school districts have canceled classes, and businesses along the parade path are turning the day into a viewing party for their employees. At least 600 Kansas City police officers will be stationed along the 2.22-mile route, Police Chief Stacey Graves said.
There were teenagers and younger children everywhere, some throwing footballs, others watching replays of match highlights on giant TV screens.
Among them were Elysseah Buford and her friend Devaun Burns, who watched the game between taking orders at McDonald’s. ‘We are losing. We are losing,” Buford recalled. But Burns scolded her even as a manager declared the match a lost cause: “I said, ‘Don’t speak it.’ Believe it.’
The 18-year-old high school students from Raymore joined in the festivities with another friend, 17-year-old Mekiyzeion Williams. who dared to ask what would have happened if Mecole Hardman had missed the final touchdown catch. “Shut up,” Burns said.
After decades without a championship, the city is gaining experience with victory parades. Five seasons ago, the Chiefs defeated the 49ers for the team’s first Super Bowl championship in 50 years. That came after the Kansas City Royals won the World Series in 2015, the city’s first baseball championship in 30 years. That year, fans left their cars on the side of the highway so they could walk to the party.
Last year, the Chiefs defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 and prophetically promised to come back for more.
A big change this year is that the parade will start an hour earlier at 11 a.m. so the crowds will clear before the Valentine’s Day dinner.
After the big cleaning, the team gets ready to try again.
