Houston Celebration Parade, Street Party Crowd Was Astro-nomical

HOUSTON, TX — Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas coast exactly 10 weeks ago today (Friday, Aug. 25). The storm moved over the Greater Houston area and dumped epic amounts of rainfall, flooding the entire city. Today Houston held the biggest street party in the city's history as an estimated 750,000 people lined downtown to cheer on the Houston Astros in a celebration parade for their World Series championship.

Folks started lining up for their spots on the parade route just after midnight, and by mid-morning so many parade goers had shown up that the city expanded the route by two blocks. The parade started promptly at 2 p.m. and took about 30 minutes for the entire procession to pass one spot. The parade finally ended where it began — City Hall — and the celebration continued.

The Astros owner, players and coaches, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and many other elected officials entered a stage at City Hall to address the crowd and show off the team's shiny new Commissioner's Trophy.

The coaches and players were called out one-by-one, with cheers from the crowd on each one. The first loud hooray went to longtime MLB player Carlos Beltran, and the crowd went absolutely nuts for pitchers Charlie Morton (Game 7 save) and Joe Musgrove. Then as the starters were announced, the crowd went insanely crazy for (in order) Brian McCann, Marwin Gonzalez, Evan Gattis, Josh Reddick, Yuli Gurriel, Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa, Jose Altuve, Dallas Kuechel and World Series MVP George Springer.

Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top led the national anthem in accompaniment with backup singers.

Mayor Turner first addressed the crowd.

"What a terrific day this is for the City of Houston," he said. "For a tribute let's give it up to the Houston Astros one more time. When the city needed a pickup, the Houston Astros stepped in."

Gov. Abbott, after proclaiming Nov. 3, 2017 as Houston Astros Day for the entire state, he gave fans a piece of paper that excused them for missing work, errands and school for the parade — note: Houston ISD closed schools and offices Friday for the parade.

Astros manager A.J. Inch spoke to the crowd and then Kuechel addressed them."Houston, what the hell took us so long to win a World Series?" Kuechel asked. "We all won this together."

Then Springer took the microphone to a deafening-loud cheer from the throngs in attendance yelling "M-V-P."

"I want to thank every single person here, everyone in the city and everyone in Texas who believed in our team," Springer said. "We wanted to do something for everybody here. Houston, we have a championship team and no one can take that away from us."

Judge Emmett said, "These guys have inspired future generations."

"Houston, we don't have a problem. We have a championship," said Joh Reddick, who added his best Ric Flair impersonations.

Then a shout could be heard all across Texas when Altuve was announced to the stage.

The street party continued at City Hall bigger than any street festival ever known.

The city never got down after Hurricane Harvey, and the excitement has never been greater than what was displayed Friday downtown. Though this moment has been 55 years in the making for the organization, it couldn't have come at a better time for a city still healing.

Watch: Houston Revels In World Series Victory

Top Image: Houston Astros' Jose Altuve, center, and his teammates celebrate during a rally honoring the World Series baseball champions Friday, Nov. 3, 2017, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)