Your City's World Cup Celebration Photos

[ctman987]

Avid soccer fans in Greater Hartford have been watching the world cup from many of the downtown bars as well as bars in the south end (when Italy was playing) and west end.

Italy winning though was the jackpot and Franklin Avenue has brought thousands of Italians back to their old neighborhood to watch the world cup and celebrate in the avenue.

Part of Franklin Avenue was closed off for the game so that a large screen TV could be set up in the street for people to watch the game (a great idea!!!). In addition people filled south end favorites such as the Italian clubs still located in the south end and in Wethersfield & Rocky Hill, they filled south end restaurants and pavillions set up along Franklin Avenue such as the one at Dabacco's.

When Italy won the party started....one like Hartford has not seen in a long time and especially one the south end has not seen in a long time. Since the win and continuing well into the night (they are still partying down their as I type). People are driving up and down Franklin Avenue honking their horns, yelling & waving their Italian flags, there are also tons of people walking up & down the street celebrating and frequenting all of the Franklin Avenue restaurants.

Many people who had moved out of the south end to the suburbs and many Italian children (numerous college age students & young professionals) who are Italian but grew up in the suburbs returned to Little Italy for this massive party.

This truly was one of Hartford's best days.

Some pictures (not the very best but better then nothing) from Franklin Avenue's celebration of Italy's victory.

This truly was one of Hartford's best days in a long time.

DiBaccos (they had a big tent filled w/ people watching)

The second building on the right is one of the Italian clubs in the south end.

Another Italian club

[Cotuit]

Here's some of the celebration on Federal Hill in Providence:

And a short YouTube video to show the noise:

[ctman987]

I've been to Federal Hill in Providence and Providence's and Hartford's celebrations looked quite similar. The fact that people were able to drive up and down the street in their packed cars with flags was great (I know in some cities it looked like Little Italy streets were closed to cars). In Hartford you could see some of the same people driving up and down Franklin Avenue with their flags, honking their horns...and im sure the same went on in Providence.

Videos with sound of the celebration on Franklin Ave in Hartford

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LYi8xvVJOE...0cup%20hartford

Article from the paper this morning w/ a great picture (click it for a bigger one) of the celebration in Hartford

http://www.courant.com/sports/hc-jeffcol07...dlines-breaking

[lammius]

From the Newark Star-Ledger, celebrations in Newark's North Ward centered around a block party on Bloomfield Ave. Neighborhood restaurants provided free food to attendees (an estimated 500 pounds of sausage, 2400 hamburgers, 2000 hot dogs, and untold volumes of beer and soda).

Edit: Sorry, this photo is from the New York Times, the food data from the Star-Ledger. The S-L had excellent photos in their print edition, but they're not online.

[Copper]

Toronto

[Woonsocketier]

Copper,

During ABC's coverage of the game they showed a bar in Toronto where all the french fans were gathered. I didn't happen to catch the name of it though. Do you happen to know the name of the place?

[ctman987]

It appears that scenes similar to ones in Toronto, Providence, Hartford and Newark were repeated throughout cities and towns across the world. This truly was nice to see!!!!

[Cotuit]

Toronto

Is Canada a big football country? Or are they more like us and really don't care much?

[dixiecupdrinking]

Wow - that Toronto celebration is incredible! I wonder what, if anything, could get Americans ecstatic and waving flags in the street like that. It's too bad that we're not interested in most international competitions, they really seem to bring countries together in a way that's difficult to imagine.

[GRDadof3]

Wow - that Toronto celebration is incredible! I wonder what, if anything, could get Americans ecstatic and waving flags in the street like that. It's too bad that we're not interested in most international competitions, they really seem to bring countries together in a way that's difficult to imagine.

You obviously don't live near a Big Ten college town. Try Ann Arbor after U of M wins against Ohio State at home in football, or East Lansing after MSU makes it to the Final Four in basketball. I'm sure there are other examples of this all over the country. It's like the Toronto picture above with 100x the people and not so many cars.

[dixiecupdrinking]

Try Ann Arbor after U of M wins against Ohio State at home in football, or East Lansing after MSU makes it to the Final Four in basketball. I'm sure there are other examples of this all over the country.

That's a good point, there are certainly more regional events that see this kind of enthusiasm. There's something nice about the national pride of the World Cup, though. We celebrate when we beat some other American's team. I don't think there's any event that would make people all over the U.S. pour out of their homes into the streets to celebrate.