Maybe this isn’t unique.  Maybe every city that achieves some lofty sports goal goes through this and it is really nothing to marvel at.  But I’ve never been in a city that found itself with something to celebrate so for me this is special.  I’m not one of the long suffering die hard fans who endured all the years of bad baseball.  I’m not even a longstanding resident. None of that mattered today.  Today the entire city and beyond came together to celebrate a common understanding that Kansas City was the place to be: no longer a ‘cow town’ or a ‘fly over state’ but the place where determined baseball players brought pride to their town. To quote the mayor from this morning’s paper: “If you don’t love Kansas City today, you will never love Kansas City.”  We had our World Series crown.

And thousands showed their love. Schools were canceled all over the city and families spent the day in the sun celebrating. Flocking to the parade and rally route, camping out over night.  The parade was set to start at noon, wind through the downtown and with the rally at Union Station – which you can see from my office window.

And from there I watched them come starting at 8:30.

And at 10:30 they were still coming.

And at 11:30

And at 12:30

And they stood everywhere:

And me in the midst:

Along with the girl in the balloon dress, and the strangers walking in the street. Traffic didn’t move and people didn’t complain. (Well, maybe they did a little.)

Even the Bank got into the spirit and, like so many other places in the city, dyed the fountain blue.

Because today we were celebrating. And it felt good to be here.