Argos to celebrate Grey Cup win with downtown parade
The Toronto Argonauts will celebrate their win in Sunday’s Grey Cup with a downtown parade tomorrow.
The Argos defeated the Calgary Stampeders 35-22 on home turf. It marks the club’s 16th Grey Cup win and first since 2004.
The parade Tuesday will begin at 11:30 a.m. ET at the corner of Wellington and Yonge streets.
From there, it will move west on Wellington to Bay Street, turn north on Bay and conclude at Nathan Phillips Square, in front of city hall, where Argos players will take the stage and address the crowd.
Calgary mayor thanks TO
Argo and Stampeder fans enjoyed everything Toronto offered during the Grey Cup festivities.
Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi called Toronto a great host city.
"Congrats to the Argos for a great game ... and to Toronto for putting on an amazing event," Nenshi tweeted.
The fans seemed to echo his sentiment.
"I expected a little bit of a nose-in-the-air Toronto mentality, and we came here and we were blown away," said Kahl Boll, who came from Regina to attend the CFL championship game. "They put on an amazing show. We had a great time — even though we're not in it."
Record sales reported
But the 100th anniversary version of the Grey Cup didn't just leave fans celebrating. Toronto-area businesses had good reason to be happy as well.
For many in the downtown core, the week of festivities offered them a much-needed economic boost.
In 2007, the last time Toronto hosted the Grey Cup, the festivities gave the city a $30-million boost.
This year, a number of bars in the downtown area set sales records during the week of festivities, which included film screenings, fun zones in Nathan Phillips Square and Yonge-Dundas Square, and photo opportunities with the Grey Cup.
Official Grey Cup events ran from Nov. 15 to game day Sunday.