UConn Victory Parade Still Set for Sunday

Get ready to celebrate Husky fans!

The Hartford Business Improvement District and MetroHartford Alliance announced Thursday afternoon that the fundraising effort for Sunday’s victory parade and pep rally in honor of the University of Connecticut NCAA Men’s Basketball Champions was a success. 

On Wednesday evening, a spokesperson for the organizers of Sunday’s event said that organizers were only half-way to raising the $50,000 necessary to host both a parade and rally, and needed to generate $25,000 by Friday morning in order to have a parade.

With only hours to go before the Friday morning deadline, the Connecticut business community was able to respond to the organizers’ call for support in order to deliver a victory celebration in Hartford.

No state or city money is being used for the celebration, and as in past years, the event has been paid for by donations from area corporations and businesses.

According to an event spokesperson, funds will go toward the costs of public safety personnel from the City of Hartford, State of Connecticut, and State Capitol Building, special event insurance, portable toilets, public works post-event clean-up and staging and sound.

As of 1:20 p.m. on Thursday, the following businesses had contributed in support of the victory parade:

• Aetna;
• Bank of America;
• Billy Carlson Heating & Air Conditioning;
• Buell Securities;
• CATIC;
• Connecticut Community Bankers Association;
• Hartford Steam Boiler;
• Hilton Hartford Hotel;
• LAZ Parking;
• Marriott Hartford Downtown;
• Northeast Utilities;
• People's United Bank;
• SNY;
• The Hartford;
• Travelers;
• UConn Co-op;
• United Technologies Corporation;
• Virtus Investment Partners; and
• The XL Center.

The parade will begin at 3 p.m. at the State Capitol on Capitol Avenue. It will continue around Bushnell Park, Main Street and Capitol Avenue where it will return to the State Capitol for a rally held in the team’s honor.

For a map of the parade route, along with parking information, click here.