“We want Houston.”

This chant echoed throughout the city as a sea of orange and blue celebrated the champions that had brought glory to their city.

A million Astros fans lined the streets of downtown Houston, celebrating the Astros’ newest World Series title. With HISD canceling school yesterday, students were able to go to the parade and enjoy the celebrations.

“I was so happy when HISD canceled school because either way I was going to go to the parade but I also kind of expected it as there are a few HISD schools downtown that you would not be able to get to due to the shutdown roads,” junior Avery Nixon said.

Students like Nixon who might not have been able to make the Astros parade in 2017 could now enjoy the celebrations of the Astros’ second World Series win.

“I wanted to go to the 2017 one but my dad had to work and baseball has always been a me and him thing so I didn’t want to go without him,” Nixon said. “This year he was able to go so we of course went.”

With a million fans expected to be in attendance, the only way to get front-row seats for students like sophomore Ella Turney would be to arrive hours before the parade even started.

“We left around 9:30 a.m. and got to the downtown area around 10 a.m.,” Turney said. “From there we went to find good seats and ended up sitting really close to the front.”

As Turney waited for the parade to begin, she saw fans following in the steps of the 2017 parade as they passed hats from level to level on a parking garage until they reached the top.

“We did witness the hat throwing which was pretty cool, especially when everybody started cheering,” Turney said

When the parade did start, Nixon said the atmosphere was unmatched as fans from all over the city joined together to celebrate this one occasion.

“It was amazing; the crowd was so hype,” Nixon said. “We chanted some many things including “Y’all got Houston”. It was also nice to see people of all color backgrounds and ages come together to celebrate the same thing.”

While this day off did provide students the opportunity to support their local team, many students chose to spend the day as an extension of their weekend.

“I didn’t go to the Astros parade because I’m not the biggest baseball fan,” junior Aaditya Krishna said. “I decided to use my free day in other ways, such as playing basketball, studying and watching sports. Basically, I would rather rest than go and stand at a parade.”